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THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS 

OF THE 

OLD GOVERNORS' MANSION 



LEOLA SELMAN BEESON R 












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THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE OLD GOVERNORS' MANSION 







Of this first edition of 

The One Hundred Years of The Old Governors’ Mansion 
One thousand copies have been printed 



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THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS 

OF THE 

OLD GOVERNORS' MANSION 

MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA 

1838-1938 

Mrs. LEOLA(SELMAN) BEESON 


Introduction by 
DR. GUY H. WELLS, President 
Georgia State College for Women 


They who live in History only, seem to walk the earth. 

—Longfellow 


MACON, GEORGIA 
THE J. W. BURKE COMPANY 

19 3 8 






Fm 

.tUth 


Copyright, 1938, by 
LEOLA SELMAN BEESON 
All Rights Reserved 


1 1 6691 




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Dedication 

To President and Mrs. Guy H. Wells 
and 

To the twenty-five thousand Georgia 
girls who have entered the portals 
of the old Executive Mansion 



FOREWORD 


President and Mrs. Guy H. Wells have asked me to write the 
story of the one hundred years of the old Executive Mansion, and 
to no pleasanter task could thei writer devote herself. There are 
many in Georgia today whom she would like to summon to adorn 
the tale with incidents from memory or tradition. “The most im¬ 
portant history for any community is its own past, not that of far 
countries or ancient times,” says a Georgia historian, Dr. Merton 
Coulter. Many of us realize our debt to the future but forget that 
we owe a debt to the past. Our excuses for failure to write the 
history of Milledgeville, Georgia’s capital for more than sixty 
years, are like those in Arthur Ketchum’s poem “The Grieving 
Men” . We are like that shepherd, who when the others ran to 
find the Babe in Bethlehem remained behind. We are like the 
king who stayed at home and let his wiser brethren seek the 
manger where the Christ-child lay. We are like the keeper of the 
inn, who when there was knocking at the gate, rose not up to 
make room for the Son of God. 

The answer to the shepherd was: 

“Good shepherd cease; no more complain. 

Tonight that Child is horn again!” 

To the king the message came: 

“Look up, poor king, and see for sign, 

Tonight once more a star givesi shine!” 

For the keeper of the inn, were the words: 

“Good man rejoice, nor grieve in vain, 

Tonight He seeks that door again!” 

Today let us begin to recover some of our unwritten history. 
The old Executive Mansion has a glorious past, but it lives not 
alone in the past, it lives gloriously also in the present. This Man- 


FOREWORD 


sion succeeded three others, and Dr. Wells asks that the story 
of them be included with that of the Mansion of today. Those 
who are not interested in the historical development, are asked 
to omit reading the first chapter. 

The writer of this history expresses her cordial thanks to Miss 
Nellie Jo Flynt of the Georgia State College for Women for 
typing it, and to Mrs. James S. Alexander of Emory University, 
Georgia, for her helpful criticism. 

Leola Selman Beeson. 

February, 1938. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Pages 

Chapter I Earlier Executive Mansions 

in Milledgeville.1-19 

Chapter II The One Hundred Years of the Old 

Governors' Mansion.20-50 

Chapter III The College Presidents .... 50-59 

Chapter IV The Building and Plan of the 

Executive Mansion.60-67 

Bibliography and Notes, Chapter I.68-72 

Bibliography and Notes, Chapter II.73-78 

Bibliography and Notes, Chapter III ... . 79 

Bibliography and Notes, Chapter IV 


80-81 










ILLUSTRATIONS 


I The Old Governors' Mansion .... Frontispiece 

II First Four Governors. 48 

III Last Four Governors. 49 







INTRODUCTION 


Doctor Frank Jones of Clinton, Ga., was the first to suggest that 
someone should be asked to write the history of the old Executive 
Mansion in Milledgeville. The idea appealed to me, and at once I 
asked Mrs. J. L. Beeson, whose husband, Doctor J. L. Beeson, 
has been connected with the Georgia State College for Women 
over forty years. They lived in the Mansion for a period of years. 

Mrs. Beeson has considerable ability as an historian, having 
been State Historian of the Daughters of the American Revolu¬ 
tion and 1 having done research on the life of Sidney Lanier and 
other interesting people. Besides her ability as a writer and his¬ 
torian, Mrs. Beeson probably appreciates the beauty and dignity 
of the Mansion better than any one living. When I suggested my 
wish for this history to be written, Mrs. Beeson readily undertook 
this work of love. Those who love the Mansion will appreciate 
it more after reading this interesting account of its history. I take 
this opportunity to express our gratitude to Mrs. Beeson for her 
service in helping us to understand what the Mansion has meant 
to Georgia. 

This history is written that we might appreciate our past and 
be inspired to live better and more nobly in the future. The people 
who do not appreciate and preserve the records of the past do 
not make worthy records for preservation in the future. 

Perhaps the best index of a civilization is the architecture of 
the period. Judged by this standard, the Golden Age in Georgia 
was about 1838. Many architects have said that there is no more 
beautiful example of architecture in the State than the old Man¬ 
sion. The houses in which we live make an indelible impression 
on our character. Mount Vernon, Monticello, and the Hermi¬ 
tage, no doubt, did as much for Washington, Jefferson, and Jack- 
son as these men did for their homes. “The Greeks realized that 
underlying every great work of art and of literature, there were 
certain laws of order that were the very same as those inculcated 


INTRODUCTION 


by their philosophies for the guidance of their lives. This is finely 
illustrated by a prayer of a Greek citizen to the beautiful Par¬ 
thenon that has come down to us in a Greek' play. Note that it 
is not a prayer to the Parthenon as an idol, but such a one as might 
be made by any of us: that the principles exemplified here might 
be exemplified in our own life. 


O thou beautiful Parthenon } thou art the end and aim 
of all my endeavors! 

To he like thee; to build as thou hast builded; to attain 
what thou hast attained, has been my lifelong 
desire . 

As I gaze at thee, thy beauty draws me nearer to my 
ideal. 

Let my craving for thel virtues of my race be strength¬ 
ened and purified by thy perfect example! 

Let the principles exemplified in thy matchless art — 
unity f harmony, balance , proportion f and the sub¬ 
ordination of every part to the glory of the whole 
—be also the guiding principles of my life! 

In thee I see what I would be — 

Grant me to be that which I see! 


February io, 1938. 


Guy H. Wells. 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE OLD GOVERNORS' MANSION 




EARLIER EXECUTIVE MANSIONS IN 
MILLEDGEVILLE 
1807-1838 

Chapter I 

Milledgeville had a romantic beginning, her name 1 having been 
given and her broad streets and public squares 2 having been laid 
out before Baldwin County 3 was set up. The Commissioners 4 who 
selected the site and had the survey made were David Dickson, 
John Clark, Howell Cobb, David Adams, and Thomas U. P. 
Charlton. The first letter 5 headed “Milledgeville”, that has been 
found, was written by John Clark to Governor John Milledge, 
“27th Sepr. 1804”, and in it he says of the place, “It is as f well 
watered with good springs as any place I ever saw and every other 
appearance is in favor of its being a healthy situation.” Late in 
1807, the Reverend Jesse Lee visited Milledgeville, and in his 
Memoir he said, “I felt some sorrow at leaving Georgia for I 
was more pleased with the country and the people than I had 
ever been before.” 

The First Executive Mansion 

On October 9, 1807, in Louisville, the old Georgia capital, 
was published in The Louisville Gazette and Republican Trwnpet 
the news, “Yesterday 15 waggons left this place for Milledge¬ 
ville with the Treasury and the Public Records of the State. They 
were escorted by the troop of horse from Washington County 
who arrived here a few days since for that purpose.” 

We do not doubt that in Milledgeville near that time, prepa¬ 
ration for the coming of Governor and Mrs. Jared Irwin was 
hastened. At that day in 1807, our old capitol building had none 
of its present day beauty. It was like a rectangular brick box. 8 


4 1 ► 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


The executive Mansion, not far distant from it, is described for 
us by Octavia Walton (Madame LeVert) 7 , who was the grand¬ 
daughter of George Walton, one of Georgia s signers of The 
Declaration of Independence and Governor of the State. As her 
nephew, Colonel Jim Walton 8 , now eighty-five years of age re¬ 
members the story (he was fifteen years of age when his aunt 
died) 9 she, a small girl, was in Milledgeville the day her father s 
friend, Sam Dale 10 , left with important military dispatches for 
General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans. Madame LeVert said, 
according to her nephew, “It was December 31, 1814. Low 
clouds hung above the new capital of Georgia. A cold mist almost 
touched the new hand-riven clapboards on the roof of the two- 
story log house of the Governor’s Mansion. A bitter cold wind 
bearing flakes of snow and pellets of sleet came roaring across 
the peaks of the Blue Ridge and through the tall slender boles 
of the pines that surrounded the new city on the Oconee. Creeks 
andi streams were bankful and the Oconee was pouring a yellow 
tide towards the Gulf.” 

The appearance and site of the first Governor’s house has 
been accurately described by Mr. George G. Smith, the historian: 
“A double log cabin 11 overlooking Fishing Creek just below where 
is now the railroad bridge on the dummy line was provided as a 
mansion for Governor Irwin, and! as soon as it could be finished 
the plain two-story house, still standing and long occupied by 
Peter Fair, was made the Governor’s residence. Fifteen thousand 
dollars was put in the hands of the commissioners to provide 
public buildings.” In connection with this Governor’s Mansion 
there is an old story 12 which lifts it into the vivid light of actuality. 
Descendants of Mrs. Irwin have heard! it and smile when they 
are asked about it. It seems that Mrs. Irwin, who had great pride 
in her husband’s position and also in her own, declared that she 
would not enter Milledgeville in an ox-cart, the usual vehicle of 
transportation in that day, 1807. So her indulgent husband bought 
her a gig. She was delighted, and when she arrived at the inn, 
halfway between Sandersville and Milledgeville, she was so com- 


< 2 > 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 

fortable that she decided not to alight, but to have her refresh¬ 
ments brought out to the gig. Just then a big, white rooster flew 
upon the fence in front of the inn and so frightened the horse 
that he ran away, threw out Mrs. Irwin, and broke her leg. An 
ox-cart and mattress were requisitioned and in the ox-cart the 
Governor’s wife entered Milledgeville. She became the first mis¬ 
tress of the Governor’s Mansion—that double-pen log house 
near Fishing Creek. 

The Second Executive Mansion 

Many people in Milledgeville have seen the Peter Fair house 
on South Wayne Street, which was the second Governor’s Man¬ 
sion. There are some, and the writer is among them, who think 
as the historian declared, that the double log house 13 was early 
given up as the home of Georgia’s Chief Executive. While Ma¬ 
dame LeVert’s description of Milledgeville and that first Man¬ 
sion is treasured, her date is belated. Without a doubt, she was 
in Milledgeville the day Sam Dale took his leave in 1814 for 
New Orleans, and without a doubt, she saw the double log house 
almost seven years earlier while the boards were bright and new. 

We read in an old compilation of Georgia laws about an order 
to pay 14 “To John Scott, the sum of $4,500.00 for the purchase 
of a house and lot for the use of the executive, two thousand 
dollars of which to be written off his bonds in the treasury.” 
Again in the Executive Minutes 15 , 1809-1810, there is reference 
to the purchasing of this second house. It is the record of a deed 
of conveyance made by John Scott and his wife to ; the State of 
Georgia, for their house and lot for $4,500.00. Out of this 
amount John Scott asked that he have credit on his bonds due the 
State for the sum of two thousand dollars. Frame houses were 
becoming the fashion; another one 16 had been built 1 by this same 
John Scott and it was he 17 with Jett Thomas, who were the build¬ 
ers out of brick of the old capitol itself. When Governor Mitchell 
lived in this Mansion in 1810, the Reverend Mr. Weems, author 
of the Life of Washington and The Life of Marion, came to 


4 3 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


Milledgeville late in November. The announcement read, “The 
Reverend Mr. Weems will on Thursday evening, at early candle 
light, in the Representative Chamber, deliver a discourse on the 
important subject of the ‘Education of Youth’.” At that early 
day, Mr. Weems’ invention of the cherry tree story about George 
Washington had not been discussed and censured as it has been 
in modern times, and just underneath the announcement is Gov¬ 
ernor Mitchell’s warm commendation addressed “To the Rev¬ 
erend M. L. Weems”. The Governor stated that he had read the 
two books, that he had always admired “the truly illustrious 
Pair”, and that Weems’ publications had exalted his opinion of 
them. “For the pains which you have taken to collect so many 
very valuable, but hitherto generally unknowm anecdotes of these 
two noblest champions of American rights, I pray you to accept my 
best thanks. I remain, Reverend Sir, yours, David B. Mitchell.” 
When he lived in this second Mansion in 1811, he entertained 
twenty-two distinguished Creek Indians at dinner, along with 
Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, beloved Indian Agent, and Mr. 
Timothy Barnard, the interpreter. Before the dinner the “talk” 
took place in the chamber of The House of Representatives at 
the Capitol where “a numerous concourse of ladies and gentle¬ 
men were present”. Tustunnuggee Hopoie or Little Prince, Mic- 
co Thlucco (known in the treaty of New York by the name ‘Bird 
Tail King’), and Tustunnuggee Hutkee, known by the whites as 
William McIntosh, were the principal speakers. The historian 
says, “It affords us pleasure to state that not the least complaint 
of irregularity or riotous behavior occurred and brotherly love 
and harmony subsisted whenever the white and red men were 
together.” 18 

. 0n August 16, 1813, in The Aurora, Philadelphia, was pub¬ 
lished from its Washington, Georgia, correspondent, “Governor 
Mitchell visits Jones County today and will reach our county to¬ 
morrow, for the purpose of raising men for a campaign in the 
nation. * * * * It is asserted that 8 or 10 days since the hostile In¬ 
dians dispatched 25 horses to Pensacola for arms and ammunition 


<{ 4 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 

furnished them there by the British. They contemplate an at¬ 
tack on our frontiers as soon as they get those supplies. The 
ensuing will probably be an active week, as volunteers will be 
collecting to form a detachment to send into the nation. It is 
thought the Governor will not send less than 6 or 8000 men of 
whom Maj. Gen. David Adams is expected to have the com¬ 
mand.” 

After Governor Mitchell became Indian Agent, he wrote on 
February 10, 1820, to the Reverend Jesse Mercer about the 
Creek Indian Mission which the Baptist denomination hoped to 
found, “My desire to see the young people educated arose from 
a conviction that, to change their state from the savage to civi¬ 
lized life, their minds must be enlightened by education.” 19 A 
pleasing description 20 of the Governor’s home is given in an essay 
of a former Milledgeville woman, Mrs. Sarah H. Hall: “In 
Governor Mitchell’s day his house rang with music and laughter. 
Two of my father’s sisters were intimate friends of his daughters, 
and often were guests at his house parties. He was elected gov¬ 
ernor in 1809 and resigned his governorship in 1817 to accept 
an appointment from the President to act as Agent to the Creek 
Indians. It was then that he went to Mount Nebo 21 to live, and 
when he died his widow and son came to town to live. The widow 
was a picturesque figure. As a child I remember well the Martha 
Washington caps she wore, and the full, black silk dresses, with 
the white lawn kerchief crossed on the breast. She took snuff from 
a silver snuff-box that she carried in a deep pocket tied around 
her waist, and had to lift her skirt to get it. She did not dip snuff, 
she only took a pinch between finger and thumb and sniffed it up 
first one nostril and then the other. I would sit by and watch the 
proceeding with fascinated interest and wish I might try it, but 
dared not ask permission.” 22 

It was to this second Mansion, in 1813, that Governor Peter 
Early, who in the United States Congress had been called “This 
young Ajax from the forests of Georgia” 23 , brought his young 
wife. 24 He demonstrated at that early day how “picketing” 25 


4 5 > 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


could be successfully dealt with in Georgia. There had been en¬ 
acted a law arresting the collection of debts 26 , which law the Gov¬ 
ernor promptly vetoed. There were many who would have profit¬ 
ed by it, so they were disappointed. A regiment of troops was in 
Milledgeville, and the Colonel, to show his protest and to in¬ 
timidate the Governor, marched his soldiers around the Gov¬ 
ernor’s Mansion in a threatening manner. Governor Early walked 
out, went straight to the Colonel, and before the entire regiment 
ordered him to take up his line of march to Fort Hawkins, thirty 
miles distant, saying, “If you dare disobey this order, I’ll have 
you shot at the head of this regiment!” 27 The order was quickly 
obeyed. 

Soon after Mr. Early became Governor, the Secretary of War 28 
asked of him a loan of eighty thousand dollars, the responsibility 
of which he at once assumed. A friend remonstrated with him 
saying that he feared the union of states might not long survive, 
which might cause him a complete loss. The Governor’s reply 
was: “Should such an event occur, we shall all go together, for 
if there is no union, there will be no states, and I do not care to 
live after such a catastrophe.” 29 Before Peter Early became Gov¬ 
ernor, he was Judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit, formed in 1807, 
and on his first attendance upon the Baldwin County Court 30 a 
woman was indicted under the English Common Law as a scold, 
and found guilty. Judge Early sentenced her to be ducked three 
times in the Oconee River and the Sheriff executed the order in 
the Judge’s presence. Judge Iverson L. Harris, a distinguished 
Milledgeville citizen, 31 has recorded in his family memoirs that 
as a young boy he witnessed this ducking. In 1808, it was Judge 
Peter Early who fined General John Clark for horse-whipping 
Charles Tait, 32 Superior Court Judge of the Western Circuit. 
Judge Tait had only one leg, nevertheless, General Clark thrashed 
him on Jefferson Street in Milledgeville. 

“It was a time of mourning in Georgia when the death of Mr. 
Early was announced. . . . All admit him to have been one of the 
greatest, if not the greatest man that has resided among us. 


<■{ 6 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 

An eulogium, which was published, was pronounced at Greens¬ 
boro, and a sermon delivered by Reverend Dr. Finley at Athens. 
Mrs. Early from her disconsolateness did not attend either place; 
and some time after, Reverend Mr. Mercer preached a funeral 
sermon at her house.” 33 

Each of these first three Governors who came to Milledge- 
ville, the new capital, Jared Irwin, David B. Mitchell, and Peter 
Early, was present at the dramatic scene 34 at Louisville, the old 
capital, when the records of the Yazoo conspiracy were burned 
“with fire that came from heaven”. 35 

In 1817, when Governor Mitchell, in his second term of office, 
resigned to become Indian Agent, Matthew Rabun, by virtue of 
his office as President of the Senate, became Governor. In Novem¬ 
ber following, he was elected for a full term. His administration 
was marked by the controversy he had with General Andrew 
Jackson over the killing of ten Creek Indians and the burning of 
the town Cheha 36 wdiich had been hospitable to the American army. 
In 1913, Mrs. William J. Northern possessed the correspondence 
of both parties, 37 and in it, the Georgia Governor acquitted him¬ 
self in the use of incisive and vituperative language as well as did 
the doughty General. The adage, “Thrice armed is he who hath 
his quarrel just”, proved true. The Governor proved conclusively 
that the dreadful mistake was not his. Most of the stories that 
have come down to us about Governor Rabun center around his 
religious activities. Before he became Governor, in his report 
to the Baptist Association, meeting in Putnam County, he said: 
“Having met according to appointment in the late acquired terri¬ 
tory, which only a few years past was the habitation of savages 
and wild beasts, and which has since become converted into fer¬ 
tile fields and become the residence of many of the people of God, 
where a number of churches have been planted, and meeting 
houses erected that daily echo with the Gospel’s joyful sound and 
the high praises of Zion’s King, well may we exclaim with David 
and say: ‘This is the Lord's doing and marvelous in our eyes’. }m 

Governor Rabun died and was buried 39 at his home in Hancock 


<{ 7 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


County, in his second term, just before the meeting of the Legisla¬ 
ture. A friend and admirer said of him: “His house was ever a 
house of prayer. . . . To all benevolent institutions of his day he 
lent his influence and his purse. It was a pleasing sight to witness 
the Governor of the State take the lead in singing at a country 
church. Office did not bloat him as it does some !” 4<l Another friend 
of Governor Rabun’s, Reverend Billington Sanders, first presi¬ 
dent of Mercer University at Penfield, who had been a member of 
the Legislature, said to him, “This capital is no place for a 
Christian, I shall never come here again!” 41 The Reverend Jesse 
Mercer, the great Baptist preacher, was asked to deliver a fu¬ 
neral sermon in memory of Governor Rabun before the Legisla¬ 
ture. His sermon was preached at the Baptist Church in Milledge- 
ville. In his discourse he yielded to the temptation and the oppor¬ 
tunity to humiliate his political rivals 42 in power. He only re¬ 
flected the spirit of those times when all Georgia was divided into 
two political camps, the Clark and the Crawford parties. It was 
“war to the knife and knife to the hilt”. Ministers of the Gospel 
as well as occupants of the pews entered the fray. It was claimed 
that every man, woman, and child in Georgia took active sides in 
this strife, which later came to be known as the Clark-Troup con¬ 
troversy. 

After Governor Rabun’s death, Matthew Talbot who had been 
a member of the Convention 43 which formed the Constitution of 
the State, who had been a member of the Legislature for thirty 
years, who was then President of the Senate, became Governor 
of Georgia until a new election. The Clark-Troup controversy 
still raged, and Matthew Talbot was a Clark partisan. The mem¬ 
ory of this election will never fade from Georgia’s annals. It was 
the last one in which the Legislature, instead of the people, elected 
the Governor. A multitude of prominent men had assembled in 
the capitol to witness the joint balloting of the House and Senate. 
Thomas Stocks of Greene County, president of the Senate, called 
the name from each ballot; there were one hundred and sixty- 
six ballots, requiring eighty-four to elect. When the count was 


< 8 > 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


eighty-two for each candidate, the perspiration rolled from 
Thomas Stocks’ face although the November day was cold and 
damp. There remained only one ballot, and when it was cast from 
the hat upon the table, Stocks called loudly, “Troup”. For ten 
minutes bedlam reigned. Daniel Duffie, the ardent Methodist 
said, “O Lord, we thank Thee!! The State is redeemed from the 
rule of the devil and John Clark.” Jesse Mercer, the great Bap¬ 
tist, “waddled from the chamber, waving his hat above his great 
bald head, and shouting ‘Glory, Glory’, which he continued until 
out of sight.” General Blackshear folded his arms upon his breast 
and exclaimed, “Now Lord, I am ready to die!” 44 

A descendant 45 of Governor Talbot’s takes pride in the owner¬ 
ship of the Governor’s secretary, his books, and business papers, 
tied up in packages in the most methodical manner, many of which 
have never been untied since the Governor’s death. 

The Third Executive Mansion 

We read in a Georgia Gazeteer, “The house called the Gov¬ 
ernor is more properly called The Government House. A new one 
is now in a state of forwardness.” 46 The Governor was the third 
Executive Mansion. Its location was given as “Governor’s House 
—in a line on the North side of State House Square.” 47 Wonder¬ 
ful to relate, an inventory of the furnishings of this third Mansion 
exists. Mr. Telamon Cuyler, of Jones County, Georgia, has 
loaned it to the writer. 48 From it one may judge much about the 
building, , and reconstruct much of the life and customs of the 
times. The inventory reads as follows: 

“Furniture in the Government House, 15th November, 1831. 

In the large hall upstairs 

The Declaration of Independence 
2 Large Gilt Looking Glasses 
2 figured hare Sofas 
1 Lamp 

6 Window curtains 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


2 Mahogany card tables 
i white flower Pot 
i pr. large brass fire dogs 
i Shoval and tongs 

1 Brass fender 

2 foot Stools 

i Turkey Carpet 
i J 4 Doz. gilt chares 

In the entry below Stairs 
i Tea table 
i Sofa, i Carpet 
i chair, i hanging Lamp 

Left hand room below stairs 

1 Velvet Mahogany Sofa 

2 half tables and covering 

5 portraits, Washington, etc., etc. 

1 Doz. chairs 

2 white flower pots 

i wire fender shovel and tongs 
i pr. brass firedogs 
i candle Stand 
i carpet 

Room back of the above 
i curtain bed stead 
i red carpet 

i pine table and looking glass 
i wash stand and waiter 

The Hall below Stairs 

1 Side board 

2 tables and ends thereto 
i carpet 

12 chairs (common) 
i wire fender 

i pr. fire dogs Shovel and tongs 


4 io fa 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


In the left hand room above stairs 
2 common bed steads 
i Small carpet 
i Pine table 
i Wash Stand 
i Table looking glass 
i pr. Brass fire dogs 
i Do. Shovel and tongs 
i fender 

1 Hearth Carpet 

2 common chairs 
In the right hand room 

i Large and small bed stead 
i fender, i pr. brass fire dogs 

1 pr. Shovel and tongs 

2 common chairs 
In the entry upstairs 

i Carpet, on the Stair, Steps i Do. 

Right hand room below stairs 
i curtain bed stead 
i Clothes Spress 
i Looking Glass, 16 tumblers 
i Set broken China, i caster 

3 Doz. Silver tea Spoons 

1 Doz. Table Do.—i Silver Ladle 

2 Silver tongs, 4 candle Sticks, 

Glass, earthenware, (a small quantity) 
1 Wash Stand, 2 closets, locked 
Smoke House 

3 Large Ovens 
1 small Do. 

3 pots, 1 tea kettle 
1 pr. Wafer irons, Andirons, etc. 

1 Spade, 2 hoes 
1 brass kittle” 


<{ 11 }> 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


This third Mansion faced Greene Street, not quite opposite 
Dr. Binion’s home. It was built on the same lot as the present old 
Executive Mansion 49 and many cherished Milledgeville stories 
cluster around it. One is to be found in William Wightman s Life 
of Bishop Capers. “At Milledgeville there was no parsonage, 
but Governor Clark, whose wife was a Methodist lady, 50 having 
moved to a summer retreat at Scottsboro, 51 a short distance from 
Milledgeville, his residence handsomely furnished was kindly put 
at the disposal of the stewards for Mr. Capers’ purposes.” In 
1821, when he was on his way to the Creek Nation of Indians to 
found a Mission, he stopped on his journey and “The Governor 
at Milledgeville waited on him and tendered his official recom¬ 
mendation under the seal of the Executive Department.” This 
Asbury Mission, 52 founded by Mr. Capers, was the second in the 
United States to be established by the Missionary Society of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, organized 1819. 

At this Mansion occurred the brilliant wedding of Governor 
Clark’s daughter, Nancy 53 to Colonel John W. Campbell. At 
twelve o’clock the night of the wedding, when the dancing was 
at its height, the Governor entered the room and said, “Stop! 
Mrs. Bird is dead.” Mrs. Bird was a beloved aunt of the bride 
and only a few minutes before, had wished her happiness and said 
good-night. 

It is interesting here to recall the name which the Creek In¬ 
dians gave to Governor Clark, “e-cun-naw-au-po-po-hau”, trans¬ 
lated, “Always asking for land”. 54 

At this time the Clark-Troup bitterness 55 reached its height. 
It was told that at a famous banquet only two toasts 56 were of¬ 
fered; the first was, “George W. Troup, may he receive what he 
deserves, the infamy due to every man who attempts to destroy the 
union”; the second, “George M. Troup, may every hair on his 
head be a standing army, and every soldier be armed with a thun¬ 
dering cannon to drive his enemies to hell!” It was a time of duels 57 
and horse-whippings, 58 and defamatory letters. 59 

Governor Troup was inaugurated November the seventh, 


< 12 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


1823, and on the tenth, at the Government House, a meeting was 
held to take into consideration the expediency of organizing a 
Missionary Society 60 which should co-operate with the Missionary 
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine articles were 
submitted as The Constitution of the Branch Missionary So¬ 
ciety of Milledgeville”. Benjamin A. White, M.D., as president, 
headed the list of nine prominent Methodist citizens of Milledge¬ 
ville, William Capers’ name being among them. This was twenty 
years before he became a Bishop. 

Governor Troup, in this Mansion, 61 on that never-to-be-for¬ 
gotten visit of General Lafayette, to Georgia’s capital on March 
27th, 28th and 29th, 1825, entertained here the Nation’s guest— 
“The Government House being fitted up in style of splendor, un¬ 
equalled before in this part of the country.” 62 Little girls 63 stood 
on either side of the walk, strewing flowers in the hero’s path 
and saying in unison, “Welcome Lafayette!” 64 It was here that 
the Revolutionary soldiers 65 w T ere presented to him with tears 
and embraces and reminiscences. But it was not at the capital 
alone that the Revolutionary soldiers were invited to meet the 
General. Concerning these soldiers, the gazettes of the State had 
borne the following announcement: “Executive Department 
March 2, 1825. The Governor invites the surviving soldiers of 
the Revolution to pay their respects to General Lafayette at the 
places most convenient for them. They will find quarters pro¬ 
vided for them.” 66 It was from this third Mansion, on Sunday 
afternoon, March 27, 1825, at three o’clock, that the General ac¬ 
companied by the Governor, attended “Divine Service at the 
Methodist Church”, 67 and it was from here on Monday, that 
General Lafayette, seated with Governor Troup in a barouche 
drawn by four horses, “passed the Military Companies standing 
in salute, while the cannon boomed”, to make his visit to the Ma¬ 
sonic Hall, 68 and then on to the Capitol to be formally welcomed 
by the Intendant’s group. It was from this Executive Mansion 
at three o’clock p.m.” on Monday, that he went to the great Mili¬ 
tary Festival, 69 “a dinner served up in the State House yard”, 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


where there were two tables each one hundred and twenty yards 
long, connected at the ends by cross tables, fifty feet in length. 70 
It was from here on Monday, that the General went to the old 
Capitol to attend the “Ladies Night” supper, 71 which was to be 
“on the table at ten o’clock precisely”. 72 After the supper, was 
held the Grand Ball where the dancing went on in both the Senate 
and the House Chambers, there being a fine band in each. 7 " 

It was to Governor Troup that Chilly McIntosh came when 
his father was murdered. His arrival is chronicled in the local 
press as follows : “As our paper was going to press, Chilly Mc¬ 
Intosh arrived in town and brought the intelligence that the In¬ 
dians had killed General McIntosh and the Chief of the Coweta 
towns. The houses of the former were burned and his cattle and 
slaves driven off. It is stated that about four hundred Indians 
are under arms.” 74 

After Georgia obtained much of the land between the Oconee 
and the Ocmulgee Rivers at the Fort Wilkinson Treaty, June 16, 
1802, the State devised and used with success The Land Lottery 
system, which no state followed, and yet no state surpassed Geor¬ 
gia in the distribution of her public domain. On the east bank 
of the Oconee was the Head Right system, while on the west 
bank was the Land Lottery system. Governor Troup, in 1825, 
said of the Land Lottery, “May we not indeed say that our land 
system has been wiser than that of the United States, which thus 
far at least, has been a tax upon the Treasury, whilst ours has 
paid something above and beyond the protection which it gave 
to our frontier.” While the Governor lived in Milledgeville com¬ 
missioners were authorized December 23, 1826, to establish a 
lottery to raise funds to* build the Masonic Hall, which Hall now 
stands and is still in use. 

In this Mansion lived Governor Wilson Lumpkin, one of 
Georgia’s most powerful Governors, 75 who resigned his seat in 
Congress 76 to enter upon the duties of Chief Executive. An editor 
said of him, “Mr. Lumpkin’s entry into Milledgeville is said to 
have been something like the triumphal processions of the Roman 
emperors”, and expressed the hope that the Governor might go 

«f 14 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


out of office deserving the gratitude of those who had honored 
him. In his inaugural address November 9, 1831, he said: “It is 
my most ardent wish to see the whole people of Georgia united 
in the great subjects of political interest and principle, Avhich 
are inseparably connected with the liberty and the perpetuation 
of our Federal Union. The Federal Union must! he preserved.” 
He said," “the framers of our Constitution were not unmindful 
of the important subject of education. They considered the cul¬ 
tivation of the arts and sciences indispensable to the prosperity 
of a free people and we therefore find the most imperative lan¬ 
guage used in that instrument to impress the Legislature with a 
sense of its duty in sustaining the cause of education.” Later he 
said, “The neglect of educating our children will inevitably tend 
to the decline and fall of our Republic. Our Government is based 
upon public opinion, and that opinion to be salutary, must be 
enlightened.” 78 He was in public life from sixteen years of age 
to sixty. He considered the bringing about of the Cherokee Treaty 
in 1835, The Treaty of New Echota, the happy culmination of 
his life’s work. Mr. Lumpkin became religious and in his youth 
joined a Baptist church in Oglethorpe County. 79 “When he was 
elected Governor, though his duties were arduous, he frequently 
found time on Saturdays to worship God with his brethren.” 80 It 
was Governor Wilson Lumpkin’s Legislature which was the first 
to appropriate funds for the erection of the present Mansion. 81 
His second wife was mistress of the Mansion, and their little 
daughter, Martha, played under the big oak tree 82 which stands in 
the southwest corner of the Mansion square. She was the little 
girl for whom the name Marthasville, following that of Terminus, 
was given to our capital city, Atlanta. Miss Alice Napier of Mil- 
ledgeville, possesses Martha Lumpkin’s little arithmetic, having 
received it from the hands of Mrs. Martha Lumpkin Compton. It 
was this daughter who opened her father’s home, Cedar Hill, in 
Athens, Georgia, to University students. For twenty years before 
the two-volume History of the Removal of the Cherokee Indians 
from Georgia t was published, these students had free access to her 
father’s manuscript. 83 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


John Forsyth was the next Governor. One biographer after 
stating that for many years he was Attorney General of the State, 
that then he was elected to Congress, then appointed Minister 
to Spain, that while he was absent in Spain he was again elected 
to Congress, that he was elected Governor of the State, that 
again, he was elected Senator in Congress, adds, “It does not 
become us to speak of the living as of the dead.” 84 John Forsyth 
served as Secretary of State under two Presidents, Andrew Jack- 
son and Martin Van Buren. He made his inaugural address 
November, 1827, when “a large concourse including quite an 
array of beauty and fashion witnessed the ceremony, all admir¬ 
ing and praising the new Governor”. An eye witness 85 at the in¬ 
auguration tells us that Governor Troup who sat just behind him, 
was referred to in the address as his “fortunate and respected 
predecessor”. He also says, “The person of Mr. Forsyth was 
the most handsome of his sex .... no orator in the United States 
possessed such a fine command of the keys and modulations, 
whereby the heart is subdued at the will of the orator. ... It may 
be many years before such a man shall again exist—one so ex¬ 
uberant in chivalry, matchless in debate 86 and fascinating in so¬ 
ciety. . . . With the ladies he was irresistible.” A successful politi¬ 
cal rival spoke of his suavity of manner, and said, “To his lofty 
spirit as a man was added a breast overflowing with the most 
tender affection for his family.” 87 His wife was the daughter of 
Josiah Meigs, president of Franklin College. 

The correspondence of John Forsyth on the entire Indian ques¬ 
tion, then paramount in Georgia, is “considered worthy of last¬ 
ing preservation and frequent perusal”, and his report on “The 
original compact”, in which the United States agreed in 1802 to 
extinguish all Indian titles to territory within Georgia, is acknowl¬ 
edged by the most able men to be equal to any ever presented to 
Congress. 

Governor William Schley, the next occupant of the third Man¬ 
sion was a strict constructionist of the Constitution of the United 
States. In his appeal for State Sovereignty he declared that “the 
Federal Government like Aaron’s rod will swallow up the State 


4 16 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 

Governments and a final consolidation of the whole will put an 
end to that beautiful system of liberty which is now the pride and 
boast of the free peoples of these States”. 88 In 1826, he wrote 
his famous digest of the early English laws in force in this state, 
and dedicated it to Governor Troup. He became much interested 
in railroads and had the privilege, not only of recommending the 
construction 89 of the Western and Atlantic railroad, but also of 
signing the law authorizing its construction. He attended the 
laying of the corner stone of Oglethorpe University in 1837. A 
newspaper announced, “The procession will be formed precisely 
at eleven o’clock a.m. on Friday, the 31st of March in front of 
the Steward’s Hall (the late residence of Thomas Foard of Mid¬ 
way) in the following order: 

The Principals and Assistants of the Midway Seminary 
Students of the Same 

The Principals of the Milledgeville Academy 
Scholars of the Same 
Citizens and Strangers 
The Board of Trustees 

The President thereof and Secretary 
The State House Officers 

Judge of the Superior and Justices of the Inferior Court 
The Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Milledgeville 
The Members of Hopewell Presbytery 
The Moderator and Orator 
The Governor and Secretaries 

Masonic Fraternity in appropriate order and costume”. 

“On arriving within thirty feet of the triumphal arch, the pro¬ 
cession will halt, take open order, and face inwards. The rear will 
then proceed in inverted order, and pass through the arch. The 
whole will be under the direction of the grand Marshall and his 
assistants on horseback. Hopew r ell Presbytery, the Board of Trus- 
tees, the Principals of Academies, the Governor and Civil Officers 


4 17 ► 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 

of the State and the Masonic Fraternity will occupy the platform. 
Appropriate seats will be provided for the ladies and should they 
desire to accompany to procession, places will be assigned them. 

Governor Schley’s Legislature appointed “Messers. Harris, of 
Baldwin, and Hammond, of Gray, a committee 91 to join that of 
the Senate in the erection of the Government House” and also 
increased by $15,000.00 the funds for its erection, and the ap¬ 
purtenances thereof. 

Governor Gilmer had on two occasions 92 come to live in this 
third Mansion, and it was he who was destined to be the first 
Governor to live in the new Mansion, “now in the process of 
building”. 93 As the lot had to be cleared, he was forced for quite 
a long time to live in rented quarters. Cash was paid for rent in 
1838 94 and again in 1839." It was in this third Mansion that Gov¬ 
ernor Gilmer lived when he wore for his morning dress, his cotton 
suit of homespun 96 which at a former time, in 1828, he had worn 
at the House of Representatives in Washington, D. C. The 
Georgians and the South Carolinians had homespun suits made 
to wear in their protest over the enactment of the hated Tariff 
Law. They wished to demonstrate how they “Would dress in 
their own homespun instead of Yankee cloth”. This wearing of 
homespun suits became the fad in Georgia. At the University of 
Georgia a mass meeting was held and the students resolved to 
wear only home-made goods. 97 In his own words the Governor 
tells us that a Frenchman from New Orleans, finding him at 
home dressed in this garb, mistook the Governor for a servant. 
When he was shown into the sitting room the visitor, a second 
time, asked to see the Governor. When he found he was in the 
Governor’s presence, and that the package he had brought for 
him from Washington contained a dozen pairs of shoes 98 for Mrs. 
Gilmer’s pretty feet, 99 instead of important State papers, as he 
had supposed, the Governor writes that “He dodged as if some 
plebeian missile had been sent at his head, and was off in a min¬ 
ute !” 

Indian troubles 100 had consumed Governor Gilmer’s time and 
energy, but just before the Cherokees were to go to the West, 


<{ 18 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


several men and women of their race called upon the Governor 
for advice. A covetous white man had stolen a little Indian girl 
who was to inherit property which he hoped to obtain. He had 
concealed her in the country below Milledgeville. Following the 
Governor’s advice the mother got possession of her child, and the 
Governor says, they brought her “to my house, 101 where she was 
dressed by Mrs. John Gilmer and the party entertained and sent 
on their way home rejoicing.” 

When the Georgia Normal and Industrial College was first 
started, some of the older servants referred to the big oak tree 
in the southwest corner of the Mansion Square as “the Indian 
tree”, supposedly from the visit of these Cherokees. This tree is 
the same as the one under which little Martha Lumpkin played. 

Governor Gilmer pardoned eight Cherokee Indian convicts 
•confined in the penitentiary and turned them over to an agent to 
be taken to the West along with the residue of their tribe. 102 

There exist no known pictures of these three Executive Man¬ 
sions; but the old life pictured in them is so plain and vivid, that 
these education-loving, Union-loving old Governor occupants 
gallantly live on to this day. These stories concerning them, though 
old, have never lost their fine flavor. They are like the 1 bay and 
.thyme and sweet fern whose fragrance is cherished. 


4 { 19 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE OLD 
GOVERNOR’S MANSION 
1838-1938 

Chapter II 

“The old house dreams of vanished faces sealed 
Inviolate in the amber of the years, 

And summons from the silence, voices lost y 
As a worn shell recalls the singing sea A 

Above the door carved in stone, is “Executive Mansion 1838”. 
This building for thirty years was the residence of the Governors 
of Georgia. It is now the property of the Georgia State Col¬ 
lege for Women and is the home of its Presidents—Dr. and Mrs. 
Guy H. Wells and their children, Guy and Ann, being the pres¬ 
ent occupants. When Dr. Winship 2 , one-time editor of The Bos¬ 
ton Educational Journal visited Milledgeville, he said of this 
building, “I have travelled in every State of the Union, visiting 
colleges and universities, and the President of this College is the 
only one in our entire nation who has the privilege of living in an 
Executive Mansion.” 

On the left of the entrance is a bronze tablet, 3 placed Novem¬ 
ber the 23rd, 1915, with the following inscription: 4 “The Daugh¬ 
ters of the American Revolution place here this memorial that 
Georgians may be forever reminded of the great men who as 
Governors of our Sovereign State in the critical years of her 
history dwelt within these walls. 

George R. Gilmer 1838-1839. 

Charles J. McDonald 1839-1843. 

George W. Crawford 1843-1847. 

George W. Towns 1847-1851. 

Howell Cobb 1851-1853. 

H. V. Johnson 1853-1857. 

Joseph E. Brown 1857-1865. 

Charles J. Jenkins 1865- 


4 20 }> 



THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


In addition to these eight Governors, there were Janies John¬ 
son 5 of Columbus, Georgia, Provisional Governor, appointed by 
President Andrew Johnson; and Brigadier-General Thomas H. 
Ruger 6 of Wisconsin, Colonel 33rd Infantry “detailed for duty” 
January 13, 1868, by General Meade, as Governor of Georgia. 

In what more delightful way can Georgia girls begin or end a 
study of the history of their State than by reviewing the lives and 
the political events which influenced the lives of the great men 
who as Governors of Georgia have for a season dwelt within 
these walls? 

“They are the knightliest of a knightly race, 

That since the days of old, 

Have kept the lamps of chivalry 
Alight in hearts of gold.” 

George R. Gilmer, the first Governor to move into the new 
Mansion, near the close of his second administration in 1839/ 
was no stranger to intense drama. Already had occurred the ex¬ 
tension of Georgia laws over the Cherokee territory 8 and his 
denunciation of the Federal Government 9 for bad faith in not 
keeping its promise made in 1802 to extinguish all Indian titles 
in Georgia’s territory when she sold to the United States her 
Western lands out of which Alabama and Mississippi were creat¬ 
ed. Added to this was the arrest and imprisonment in the State 
Penitentiary of the two missionaries, 10 not because they preached 
the Gospel in Georgia, as some like to say, but because they re¬ 
fused either to sign the oath 11 of allegiance to Georgia or to leave 
her bounds. The Governor wrote that all these cares, 12 added 
to the necessary duties of the Executive, “proved too burden¬ 
some for my feeble system. My health failed, and I became so 
dangerously ill in the spring of 1839 that my family physicians 
and friends despaired of my recovery”. He did recover, how¬ 
ever, and paid this loving tribute to his wife: “My wife was ever 
at my side, through all the danger of the disease, administering 
all the medicines and doing with her own hands whatever could 
be done for my relief .... to her unwearing, never ceasing watch- 


* 21 }> 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


fulness, skillful nursing, and loving kindness, I owe my life.” 13 

When he and Mrs. Gilmer said good-bye, the editor of The 
Journal 14 wrote : “That his health may be restored is the universal 
and ardent desire of every citizen of Georgia. Milledgeville in 
his absence and that of his excellent lady loses much that was not 
only ornamental in its society, but exemplary and useful to our 
community. Alay they both reach their homes in safety and 
enjoy years upon years of health and felicity.” The editor of 
The Recorder 15 wrote of the Governor, “May tranquil happiness 
gild the declining years of the Patriot’s life.” 

This first Governor to live in the Mansion was a friend of 
education. He left in his will a fund which is called “The Gilmer 
Endowment for Training Teachers”. It still exists, and is con¬ 
trolled and disbursed by the University of Georgia. 16 

The second Governor to come to the Mansion 17 was Governor 
Charles J. McDonald, handsome, incorruptible; 18 and he also, 
was a friend of education. He declared: “The first thing to be re¬ 
garded in a republic is the virtue of the people. The second, their 
intelligence, and both are essential to the maintenance of our 
free institutions. The first inspires them with a disposition to do> 
right, the second arms them with the power to resist wrong.” 19 
How he himself resisted wrong is illustrated by the story that 
when a political deal was suggested to him, the reward of which 
would be personal preferment, this was his answer: “I have never 
yet bargained for any office, and if I do not secure it without 
conditions, I shall never reach it.” 19 He was inaugurated 20 as Gov¬ 
ernor at noon November n, 1839, and the inaugural ball was 
held at Mr. Huson’s hotel. 21 

At the Mansion, the newly married second wife became the 
mistress, and on May 5, 1843, it was here in the salon that oc¬ 
curred the marriage of Miss Mary Ann McDonald, daughter of 
the Governor by his first wife. She was married to Colonel Alex¬ 
ander S. Atkinson of St. Mary’s who was “aid on the Governor’s 
staff”. The statement is made by one historian 22 that this is the 
“only wedding ever solemnized in that historic house!” A fasci¬ 
nating old letter 23 is in existence, written in 1843 by a visitor in 

4 { 22 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


Milledgeville to her daughter, in that intimate style in which 
one’s own mother writes. Prominent men and women in Milledge¬ 
ville are mentioned in the interesting news, but the marriage of 
the Governor’s daughter was of special concern. The mother 
writes : “An invitation has this moment been brought to Miss 
Hamilton and Mr. B. and C. to the wedding tomorrow evening 
at the Governor’s—his daughter marries Mr. Atkinson of Cam¬ 
den. I believe the Bishop is expected to perform the rite—what 
is very curious, I think, is that the boy brought the tickets in his 
hand, among others, and asked me to take out Miss Hamilton’s 

and ‘Mr. and Mrs. McD-’s compliments to Mr. and Mrs. 

Baker and would be pleased to see them tomorrow evening to 
tea’ verbally delivered—very little form I think for the head of 
the State—As you may have some curiosity the ticket runs thus: 
‘Governor and Mrs. McDonald ask the pleasure of your com¬ 
pany on Thursday evening at half past 7 o’clock. None but young 
company are invited except a few near neighbors.’ ” 

It is recorded that the noted Billy Springer trusted his five- 
hundred-pounds-weight upon Mrs. McDonald’s spindle-legged 
sofa with the result that every leg was broken off. 24 

Soon after the death of Governor McDonald, Honorable 
George N. Lester memorialized him in the House of Represent¬ 
atives in Milledgeville. He said of him*’ “His name, his truth, 
his patriotism, and his statesmanship are ineffably stamped upon 
the records of every Department of the Government. As long as 
Georgia can claim a history* so long will Charles J. McDonald 
have an honorable biography.” 25 

George W. Crawford, the third Governor to live in the Man¬ 
sion, said, “The American Crawfords never forget to pray the 
Scotchman’s prayer that they might not have a good opinion 
of themselves.” 26 This distinguished Georgian had served as a 
member of Congress before he became Governor. Also, he was 
victor in a famous duel, fought at Fort Mitchell, near Columbus, 
Ga. The code duello, in his day, was the means used to satisfy ag¬ 
grieved honor. While Governor, he restored the credit of the 
State by inducing the State banks to receive Georgia’s bonds at 


4 23 )» 



THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


par, pledging to them his personal responsibility 27 to the extent 
of $50,000.00. After he had served as Governor, he became 
Secretary of War, under President Taylor. It was he to whom 
a fee of $80,000.00 was paid for successfully prosecuting the 
great Galphin Claim 28 against the United States after trials had 
continued through the courts for forty years. It was he who was 
chosen President of the Secession Convention in Milledgeville, 
January 16, 1861, “the ablest body of men ever convened in 
Georgia”. 29 

An author, 30 Mr. Stephen F. Miller, has thus characterized 
Governor George W. Towns, the fourth Governor to live in the 
Mansion: “Governor Towns was a Chesterfield in his address: 
Nothing could exceed the suavity 31 of his disposition, and the 
ease of his manner. He was truly a refined gentleman, courteous 
and unpretending with the plain, and diplomatic with the precise, 
just as the society he was in for the time being demanded such 
an exhibition of character. He was all this entirely without ef¬ 
fort: it was constitutional, therefore pleasant to all. He had a 
friendly word, a kind recognition for each individual. The charm 
was complete. He satisfied all. It is said of him that there had 
been other great orators in Georgia, ‘Yet it was the prestige of 
Governor Towns to differ from them all in the spontaneous gush- 
ings of the heart—in the electric sympathy that kindling with the 
orator, burst out and blazed in every bosom—court, jury, bar, 
audience, all melted, all subdued by the occasion.’ It was this 
quality in him which caused a critic who knew him well to say, 
In the defense of a capital case he was unsurpassed. Some ten 
or twelve who deserved the gallows went unwhipped of justice by 
his forensic efforts!’ ” 32! 

He died in Macon not long after leaving the Governor’s chair. 
The same critic said of Governor Towns’ wife, 33 “Mrs. Mary 
Towns is an accomplished lady—devoted to the superintendence 
and education of her children, five daughters and two sons. The 
grace and propriety with which she did the honors of the Exec¬ 
utive Mansion have made her so well and favorably known that 
she needs no eulogy in Georgia.” 

4 24 }&• 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


There are few Georgia heroes who have left behind them 
more ample testimony of service 34 to their State than Governor 
Howell Cobb. Before he became Governor, he had attained 
great celebrity 35 for his speeches in the Congress of the United 
States, also he had been Speaker in the National House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. In 1856, he was given a seat in President Buc¬ 
hanan’s Cabinet, resigning it when Georgia seceded 36 from the 
Union. He was then elected a member of the Convention which 
framed the Constitution of the Confederate States 37 and it was 
he who on February 18, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, ad¬ 
ministered the oath of office 38 to Jefferson Davis, Provisional 
President of the seceded states. He entered the Confederate 
army and became Brigadier-General. He was a speaker 39 in July 
1838, at the famous Bush Arbor meeting in Atlanta, “the oc¬ 
casion of the largest political mass meeting ever held in Georgia”/ 
where red-hot invective was given full play. He entertained 
elaborately, and when he was in Congress, had a set of china 
made with the coat of arms of the State of Georgia on every 
piece. This set of china is still intact and is in the possession of 
his granddaughter. 40 . Howell Cobb, in his candidacy for the Gov¬ 
ernorship, in 1851, was the originator of “stump speaking” 41 in 
Georgia. He married in Milledgeville, Miss Mary Ann Lamar 42 , 
daughter of the wealthy and distinguished Zachariah Lamar. 43 
The following poem of playful affection written by the bride’s 
cousin, Mirabeau B. Lamar was presented to her at the time of 
her marriage 44 : 

I 

“There is a maid I dearly love, 

A fascinating girl } 

As modest as the lily white, 

And beautiful as pearl. 

I long have been her worshipper 
And evermore must be 
Yet colder far than Zembla’s snows 
That maiden is to me. 


25 > 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 

II 

From early youth to womanhood 
I’ve seen her charm expand, 

And fondly hoped, some happy day, 

To win her heart and hand; 

But oh, the hud that was so sweet, 

And long my secret pride, 

Has only blushed into the rose, 

To he another’s bride. 

III 

She soon will wear a garland bright, 

A wreath upon her brow, 

And will before the altar stand, 

To breathe the bridal vow. 

I know she will not think of me 
Nor heed the grief she makes; 

Yet warmer than the heart she weds, 

Will be the heart she breaks.” 

“The domestic life of Mr. Cobb was little short of the ideal. 
He was nowhere seen to better advantage than in his own 
hearthstone’s genial glow, and the hospitality which he dispensed 
at his sumptuous boards was such as was seldom equalled even in 
the opulent days of the old South 45 .” Mrs. R. W. Hatcher pos¬ 
sesses an invitation on small note paper in printed script, which 
was sent to her great grandmother 46 . It reads as follows : “Gov¬ 
ernor and Mrs. Cobb request the pleasure of your company at 
the Executive Mansion on Tuesday evening the 9th inst. at 8 :oo 
o’clock. Milledgeville, Dec. 1st, 1851.” 

When General Pope, military Commander of District Num¬ 
ber 3, of which Georgia was then a part, withdrew the $8,000.00 
annuity from the State University, and ordered its doors closed, 47 
General Cobb said, “The threatened persecution of the college 
by General Pope is raising up friends for it everywhere and we 


4 26 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


may flatter ourselves with the hope that, after all, good will 
come out of the apprehended evil.” The old adage, “Love and 
hate remember: it is indifference that forgets”, proved its truth¬ 
fulness in November, 1864, when General Sherman’s army 
camped on “Hurricane Place”, a plantation 48 of Howell Cobb’s 
ten miles east of Milledgeville. An officer high in command 
wrote: “General told all the darkies, as well as the soldiers, 
to help themselves to the fodder, corn, oats, peanuts, salt, and 
sorghum, and ordered the rest burned.” He added,, “I don’t feel 
much troubled about the destruction of LI. C.’s property, one 
of the head-devils.” The next day, in some way, one of the negro 
women from the farm reached Macon, and in telling Mrs. Cobb 
of the devastation wrought, said, “Mistiss, they took everything 
—they didn’t even leave a rooster to crow for day!” Although 
he had been parolled, Howell Cobb was arrested 49 and carried 
as far as Nashville, Tennessee, when Wilson the Northern Gen¬ 
eral who was in command at Macon, had him released. 

Herschel V. Johnson, the next Governor who located near 
Milledgeville, was called “The Great Constitutionalist”. It was 
he who favored a Southern Congress “not to ride rough shod 
over the Constitution, but to preserve it; not to dissolve the 
Union, but to perpetuate 50 it.” Governor Johnson was a man of 
striking personal appearance, weighing more than two hundred 
pounds, and perfectly proportioned. 51 He was an adept in the art 
of “stump speaking”, of which a Georgia editor 52 said, “The 
Spaniards love their bull fights, the New Yorkers their prize 
fights, and that the Southerners who like to see fighting of some 
kind go on, chose the stump!” He said of Herschel V. Johnson. 
“He would strike you with the blade of the axe, every time com¬ 
ing down with both hands until he finished you.” The race for 
the Governor’s office between Johnson and Charles J. Jenkins is 
noteworthy in that they campaigned together, “taking the stump” 
together, accompanying each other from town to town and from 
county to county, often sleeping in the same room; yet they dis¬ 
cussed Georgia’s problems in good temper, and from the begin¬ 
ning to the end of the race, nothing occurred to disturb the friend- 


«f 27 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


ship each felt for the other. 53 When Johnson became Governor- 
elect, he was invited to speak against “Know-nothingism , at 
Newell’s Hall. 54 The newspaper account of the meeting said: 
“Several hundred gentlemen and a large number of ladies”, for 
an hour and a half, heard him scathe the “Know-nothings”. After 
the speaking, a procession headed by martial music marched to 
the Executive Mansion, and gave the Governor-elect three rous¬ 
ing cheers. “Governor Johnson came out and invited all present 
to take a glass of wine with him ... At the table wine and senti¬ 
ment flowed freely. Several short and stirring addresses followed. 
Then the crowd left the Mansion, and proceeded to different 
portions of the city, cheering those who had been prominently con¬ 
nected with the canvass just closed.” The inaugural address 50 oc¬ 
curred “Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1855, at 12 o’clock M. in the Rep¬ 
resentative Chamber”. The Governor declared, “The cause of 
public education is emphatically the cause of our State.” He said 
the State House should be repaired, the square graded and 
planted with trees, cleared of the arsenal, magazine, and the four 
churches “upon just compensation to the respective denomina¬ 
tions”, that the Executive Mansion also, should be thoroughly re¬ 
paired and refurnished and the lot surrounded with an iron en¬ 
closure. At the inauguration, “The attendance on the part of the 
ladies was larger than usual, much of the beauty and fashion of 
the State being present . . . The day was inclement and a heavy 
fall of rain dampened the exterior of elegantly dressed ladies and 
gentlemen. That evening at Newell’s Hall the Inaugural Ball 
came off and the supper was at McComb’s Hotel. 56 It was an 
awkward arrangement and the ladies could not partake of it, 
but with some hazard to their dresses and to their health.” 

Mrs. Johnson was the niece of President James K. Polk, and 
a newspaper correspondent gave her great praise. He wrote of 
a brilliant assemblage at the Executive Mansion, a bridal party 
given in honor of a son of the Governor’s who had just married. 
Three hundred invitations were sent out. “There was a smile on 
every face, joy in every eye; there was presented an array of 
female loveliness that would move an anchorite; there was soft 


4 28 > 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


voluptuous music that moved the heart to sweet emotions or set 
the worshipper of Terpsichore to mingling in the mazes of the 
dance; there was a sumptuous supper table covered with all deli¬ 
cacies any epicure could wish; and lastly, there was the presiding 
genius of the home whose magic influence, like the sunlight upon 
the landscape, throws a charm over all it reaches, the Governor’s 
amiable and talented lady. Mrs. Johnson, as you know, possesses 
more intellect than whole armies of Woman Rights agitators. To 
a wonderful imagination and a well stored mind she unites a 
fine command of brilliant language, thus combining all the req¬ 
uisites for a brilliant conversationalist. This is the charm which 
brings to her side, wherever she may go, a group of rapt listeners 
who hang upon every word. Such is the charm of intellect when 
exhibited in the female form. Like DeStael, all gentlemen prefer 
her company to the most fascinating of belles’. ” 57 

Ex-Governor Johnson, in 1861, was the standard bearer 58 of 
the party in Georgia to prevent secession, not denying the right 
to secede,' but declaring that it was at that time unnecessary. 59 
The Convention voted for secession 60 and “the news of that ac¬ 
tion was followed by a great demonstration of shouting, ring¬ 
ing of bells, and the firing of cannon, and that night the town 
was illuminated, and the torch light procession was led to the 
lodging houses of the delegates to the Convention, who were 
called upon for speeches”. Johnson says in his autobiography, 
“I refused to respond to the call; I was too sad. I uttered nothing 
but words of regret and sorrow.” 61 

The time has now been reached in this story when one hears 
viva voce, the experiences of friends at the old Mansion. Like 
the pious i£neas, a few can say, “All this I saw, a part of 
which I was.” This viva voce experience has been enjoyed by 
many of us in hearing Mrs, Camilla Sanford McComb tell that 
she was one of the little flower girls who stood on either side of 
the walk and scattered rose petals before General Lafayette at 
the older Government House facing Greene Street. When Mrs. 
Anna Green Cook was a little girl twelve years old, she went to 
Annie and Gertrude Johnson’s party at the Mansion. When the 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


other children went into the dining room for refreshments, she 
(having partaken too freely of blackberries before she came), 
felt ill and lay down on a sofa. Governor Johnson found her, 
and supposing that she was disconsolate over having no escort, 
offered his arm, and said, “Come, the Governor will take you to 
the dining room,” and then on the Governor’s arm she proudly 
joined the other children. 

Joseph E. Brown was the Governor to whom the ear of Geor¬ 
gia turned for eight continuous years—a longer time than to 
any other Governor in her history. He was the war Governor 
that war from which many Georgians dated time—“as we do 
and will for a long time from ‘the surrender’.” Governor Brown’s 
family were the dwellers in the Mansion on that memorable day, 
Saturday, January the sixteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, 
when multitudes who had come to Milledgeville waited outside 
the old capitol for the news, and burst into rejoicings when they 
learned that the Secession Ordinance had really passed. Sitting 
in the gallery at the capitol, among the dense throng, to hear the 
Secession Debate were two young Milledgeville girls, each seven¬ 
teen years old. One was Anna Green (Mrs. S. A. Cook), who 
often told the story to the United Daughters of the Confederacy 
and the Daughters of the American Revolution at Milledgeville; 
the other was Miss Candler (Mrs. Candler Garrett), who is now 
ninety-two years old. She says, “Our entire family attended. 
These were events nobody could miss, day or night.” Then prepa¬ 
rations began to be made for the great torch-light procession that 
night. At the Executive Mansion, Mary Brown, the eleven-year- 
old daughter of the Governor, was among those who were busi¬ 
ly occupied in getting things ready for the illumination that night, 
and it was she who gave the details of this work . 62 All window 
curtains and draperies were removed and the illumination con¬ 
sisted not of any one-candle-to-a-window, as we have today, but 
there was a candle to every small pane of glass. The tinners, on 
such occasions, were much in demand. They manufactured tin 
holders for the candles, leaving on the inside, a sharpened point, 
which could be stuck in the wooden frame below each pane of 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


glass, and just far enough distant to keep it from cracking. The 
old Mansion, with the basement even illuminated, must have 
gleamed like a jewel with many facets. In the New■ York Daily 
Tribune, January 26, 1861, the special correspondent from Geor¬ 
gia wrote, “The rejoicings of Friday night were resumed with 
increased spirit on Saturday evening and night, and, though in 
a more subdued form, were continued throughout Sunday. There 
was a never ending ringing of bells all Saturday evening and a 
more gorgeous outbreak of illumination I never saw.” When the 
great torchlight procession came by that night, it was General 
Beauregard 63 who spoke from the Mansion steps. During the 
parade some parents with sad faces sat in darkened rooms, 64 while 
their sons and daughters made merry with the crowd. 65 

Preparations for war began, and the meeting at the capitol in 
answer to Governor Brown’s appeal for one million dollars from 
the South, is pictured in an old Milledgeville newspaper. The ar¬ 
ticle is headed: 

“Baldwin County’s Response to Governor Brown’s Appeal” 

“Males and females assembled in the Representative Hall . . . 
Dr. S. K. Talmadge, President of Oglethorpe University, offered 
prayer. The following National Hymn, “God Save the South”, 
was sung with earnestness by the whole assembly, standing.” 

All three stanzas were sung and the first one runs: 

God bless our Southern land! 

Guard our beloved land! 

God save the South! 

Make us victorious, 

Happy and glorious, 

Spread Thy shield over us, 

God save the South! 

“L. Carrington, Esq. read the appeal of Governor Brown to 
the citizens of Georgia. The ‘Milledgeville Silver Band’ played 
‘Dixie’, and great enthusiasm manifested itself throughout the 
entire assembly. Colonel A. H. Kenan, Representative to the 


4 31 }> 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


Montgomery Congress, explained the Act of the Congress of the 
C. S. A. relative to pledging the cotton crop for bonds of the 
Confederacy. He called upon the farmers present to subscribe. 
Colonel L. A. Jordan headed the subscription with one thousand 
bales. Others subscribed their whole crop, and no one less than 
half. Every farmer present subscribed. Captain J. W. White of¬ 
fered the following resolution: Resolved: That Baldwin County 
will respond to the call of His Excellency, Governor Brown, 
relative to the raising of one million dollars to aid in the defense 
of the Confederate States, and hereby pledges herself to pay into 
the State Treasury eighty-seven hundred and sixty dollars; her 
assessed pro rata of the one million dollars; the same to be due 
and payable whenever His Excellency shall notify us that the 
million is subscribed to and agreed to unanimously.” Colonel 
William McKinley then addressed the meeting and stated that 
Governor Brown had headed the million dollar subscription with 
one thousand dollars and that Mrs. Brown had determined to 
have twelve hundred yards of cloth made into garments for the 
soldiers .” 66 Soon after this time a military company named them¬ 
selves, “Mrs. Joe Brown’si Boys ’’. 67 And Mrs. Brown herself sup¬ 
plied the uniforms and equipped the entire company. After the se¬ 
cession ordinance was signed, Georgia men and women who had 
not favored secession stood loyally by their brothers and the State 
acted as a unit. A half block from Governor and Mrs. Brown, who 
were at the Mansion, lived Mrs. Tomlinson Fort. At her home the 
Milledgeville women formed themselves into “The Ladies Relief 
Society” and Mrs. Fort was named President. The headquarters 
for work was at her home. Shirts, underwear, socks/ and even 
cartridges were made. When it came to the grey coats, “Mrs. 
Orrne had the only machine in town and all the women went to 
her house to work on the grey jackets. They were cut out at the 
penitentiary and stitched on Mrs, Orme’s machine and then taken 
home and finished.” The day soon came when Milledgeville’s 
fine military company, The Baldwin Blues, left for the front and 
after them the Governor’s Horse Guards and the Baldwin Volun¬ 
teers and others and others and others. By the end of October, 


<{ 32 }■> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


1861, Georgia had furnished the Confederacy forty regiments 
and three battalions, of which twenty-one regiments and the bat¬ 
talions had been armed, accoutered and equipped by the State. 
Governor Brown had spent the million dollar appropriation and 
more. Mrs. Sarah Fort Milton wrote in a newspaper article, 
The Women of the Sixties f “Incidents from Milledgeville”, about 
the departure of the Baldwin Blues. She said, “It was a scene 
I can never forget, the drum could scarcely be heard—three 
thousand people were weeping. Everybody cried and through the 
weeping crowd the boys passed, tears running from their manly 
cheeks. Later, companies did not have this demonstra¬ 
tion of tears. The people seemed to get accustomed to the war. 
There comes a time when the heart bleeds, but the eyes are dry.” 
This was the picture of Milledgeville the capital, but its counter¬ 
part was enacted in every city and town and hamlet in Georgia. 
A lovely tribute to Mrs. Brown comes to the writer from her son, 
Honorable George M. Brown, 68 of Atlanta, who was born in the 
Mansion, and who had furnished a room in the Marvin Parks 
Memorial Hospital of the Georgia State College for Women 
in honor of her. In his letter he told also what every one wishes 
to know—of the two arrests of his father, how he was released 
from prison, and how it was that two Governors lived in the 
Mansion at the same time. After a pleasing introduction in his 
letter to the writer, he said, “I am afraid, however, that I am 
not going to be able to give you a great deal of information about 
the old Mansion, except what was told me as a child by my mother 
and father. I was born in the rear upstairs room on the left hand 
side of the Mansion as you go into the house,! on the 5 th day of 
October, 1865. My father and mother moved to Atlanta about 
the 17th day of December, 1865, or when I was about six weeks 
old. At the time the Mansion was in control of the United States 
Military Authorities and the Military Governor, who I think 
was named Johnson, was kind enough to let my father and moth¬ 
er remain at the Mansion until I was old enough to be moved, 
and had assigned for their use, that side of the Mansion upstairs. 
I think that the Military Authorities took charge of the Mansion 


4 33 ]» 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


the latter part of September or the early part of October; I do 
not at this time remember which. 

“My brother Charlie, for whom the Charles McDonald Brown 
Fund at the University of Georgia was named, and myself, were 
both born at the old Mansion at Milledgeville, and the other 
six brothers and sisters were born in Canton, Georgia, my fath¬ 
er’s and mother’s old home where they generally spent the sum¬ 
mers while he was Governor. I will write to my brother Jos. M. 
Brown, of Marietta, and see if he can tell in what room my 
father was arrested, but I think it was the large room 69 on the 
first floor where he always had his office. 

“The Mansion was surrounded by a troop of Federal Cavalry 
and they gave my father only about forty-five minutes’ time to 
get ready to go to prison in Washington, D. C., and they did not 
allow him one moment of privacy with my mother or any mem¬ 
ber of his family, the Federal officers being present the whole 
time that he was talking with my mother and arranging how she 
should manage while he was gone. He held a parole as Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the State troops of Georgia, and was, there¬ 
fore, illegally arrested. He was released about one week after 
he reached Washington. Gen. U. S. Grant sent word to President 
Andrew Johnson that he understood that Governor Brown was 
confined at the Capitol Prison in Washington and that Gov. 
Brown held a parole signed by him, U. S. Grant, and that he must 
be released at the President’s orders 70 or that he, Gen. Grant, 
would see that he was released if it took the whole United States 
army in his command, then encamped around the city of Washing¬ 
ton. The rest of the Southern Governors that they had caught 
were imprisoned for several months before they were released. 
Upon my father’s return to Milledgeville, he was re-arrested by 
Gen. Wilson, Commander of the Federal troops in Georgia, and 
was again started to Washington. However, when they reached 
Augusta, Gen. Wilson found a telegram from Pres. Johnson or¬ 
dering Gov. Brown to be released at once and all apologies be 
made to him. 

“I am sending you herewith copies of two letters in regard to 

4 34 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


my mother, which I think may interest you in showing what kind 
of a woman the room 71 is to be marked in memory of. One of 
these letters was written by my uncle, Judge James R. Brown, 
who for many years was Judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit of the 
Superior Court, and who lived to be about eighty-nine years of 
age. The other letter was written by a negro servant, A. DeLa- 
motta, whose wife was given to my mother as a bridal present 
by her father. These letters were written to the Ponce de Leon 
Baptist Church when the parties heard of my gift to establish 
The Elizabeth Grisham Brown Benevolent Fund, which I did 
in 1906, in memory of my mother. I may add that this fund has 
contributed quite a lot to the Corrie Hoyt Brown Fund at Mil- 
ledgeville. Under its terms one-half of its earnings each year goes 
to benevolences, and the other half is added to its capital account. 
During the twenty-two years the fund has been in operation, it 
has given away over $7,000.00 and the capital account now 
amounts to $18,500.00 .... Yours very respectfully, George M. 
Brown.” 

At the time of the first arrest 72 of Governor Brown, he was in 
his upstairs bedroom when the soldiers marched through the en¬ 
trance hall into the rotunda. The Governor hearing the racket, 
came from his room out upon the balcony around the rotunda on 
the second floor, and looked down upon them. The leader ex¬ 
plained his mission, and the Governor calmly replied, “You may 
come up,” which they did. The second arrest 73 is the one described 
by Mr. Brown in the letter. 

It was only after reading Mr. Brown’s letter about the two 
Governors living in the Mansion at the same time, that the fol¬ 
lowing article entitled, “The State House Square”, 74 could be at 
all interpreted. It reads thus: “Through the public spirit of Gov¬ 
ernors Johnson and Brown the State House Square has been 
adorned and beautified. The shade trees are just putting on their 
spring dress, and the grass is green and inviting. There is no more 
appropriate and beautiful place in our city where an hour or 
two in the afternoon could be so pleasantly whiled away. All that 
is needed to render this spot a favorite resort for ladies and 


35 If!®* 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


gentlemen, and young children is something to sit on when they 
get tired of walking. 

“Will not the obliging Governor have neat but substantial 
seats made in different parts of the square? We are assured by 
many ladies that he will not only do a great favor to them, but 
he will add to the beauty of the square and confer a public benefit. 

“Our public-spirited friend Green, Principal Keeper of the 
Penitentiary, will take pleasure in supplying the desideratum.” 

Governor Brown paid honor to his wife in saying, “She has 
always been more than three-fourths of my success.” 

“From the time when her husband was first elected Governor, 
in 1857, until his duties as Chief Justice were at an end, in 1870, 
she acted as his private secretary, copying every message and 
every State paper of any importance, every opinion delivered 
from the Supreme bench and innumerable letters. Notwithstand¬ 
ing all this, her duties in presiding with grace and graciousness 
over the affairs of the Mansion were never neglected.” 75 

The mother of Georgia’s distinguished author, Mr. Harry 
Stillwell Edwards, was present at Governor and Mrs. Brown’s 
first levee, as it was called then. Mr. Edwards recalls many of 
her bright reminiscences of the occasion. Another guest at the 
levee was a Milledgeville citizen, Mr. T. L. McComb, 76 who 
was old enough to be wearing his first full dress suit that evening. 
He remembered also a visit to the Mansion after General Sher¬ 
man and his soldiers had spent the night there 77 and had left the 
city. What struck him most forcibly was that the oil paintings 
hanging on walls, had been cut into ribbons with soldiers’ sabres, 
and the ribbons were swaying in the breeze. He could never 
forget it. He was not alone. Another visitor saw the destruction 
wrought and wrote in her Journal, “There doesn’t seem to be a 
clean or a whole thing left in the town.” 78 A distinguished North¬ 
ern officer who was in the old capitol wrote, “I am sure General 
Sherman will some day regret that he permitted this library to be 
destroyed and plundered. I could get a thousand dollars worth 
of valuable law books there if I would just go and take them, 
but I wouldn’t touch them.” 79 At least a half dozen visitors in the 

<{ 36 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


octagon room at the Mansion have said, “Here set Mrs. Brown’s- 
cake basket and many a time has she treated me from it.” Each 
one added, “I was a small child, and my mother had told me nev¬ 
er to ask for anything to eat.” Like all small children their eyes 
turned longingly towards the basket and Mrs. Brown seeing 
them, and loving children, satisfied their wants, Mr. McComb 
also told about the banquets of that day, both at the Mansion 
and at McComb’s Hotel, where many members of the Legisla¬ 
ture had rooms. There was always a meat table and always a 
sweet table. They were placed parallel to each other, and for a 
great banquet were as long as the room would accommodate. 
Often on the meat table there would be four turkeys, weighing 
from twenty to thirty pounds each, wild duck was common, and 
partridges were often stuffed with oysters. There might be as 
many as four hams all nicely decorated. Always there were beaten 
biscuits and hot rolls. Mr. McComb remembered to have seen as 
many as forty baskets of champagne served at these banquets, 
each basket containing twenty-four pints, and to have heard as 
many as thirty or forty toasts. There were in those days no layer 
cakes, but the cake table always presented a magnificent appear¬ 
ance. The cakes were thick, and round or square or oblong or 
octagonal or moon shaped. They were wonderfully decorated in 
spun sugar with angels’ wings or Cupids or flowers or for a mili¬ 
tary fete, with cannon. It often required two whole days for 
an expert to decorate a cake. There were fruit cakes and pound 
cakes and sponge cakes and marvelous white cakes. No one ever 
stood up to eat. Chairs were grouped around the room and the 
hosts made their friends comfortable, while able waiters or 
waitresses served the plates at the tables. According to the recol¬ 
lection of one of Milledgeville’s charming matrons, Mrs, Sarah 
H. Hall, 80 the town in the late fifties had within her bounds some 
who thought the world owed them a living. When these malcon¬ 
tents knew that a great banquet was imminent at the Executive 
Mansion, under cover of darkness, they would steal into the four- 
foot passageway between the banquet hall with its many windows 
and the retaining wall, just outside, and with hooks attached 


< 37 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


to poles, they would stealthily lift off a whole ham or a whole 
turkey. The State had to deal with such offenders as manfully as 
did Governor Early with his “pickets” in earlier days. A letter 81 
is in existence from Mr. Willie Williams, of Milledgeville, father 
of Mrs. David Ferguson, telling of his success in transporting a 
part of the State’s treasury to Savannah, upon the approach of 
Sherman’s army to the capital. Mr. Williams at that time was a 
young man, secretary to “Honest John Jones”, Treasurer of 
the State. Governor Brown had Mr. Jim Scurlock, 82 also, sworn 
in as a deputy, and he was entrusted with the other portion of the 
State’s funds to go to Augusta, so that if either messenger should 
be captured, all of Georgia’s eggs might not be found in one 
nest. Each left under cover of darkness, and each succeeded in 
his mission, but the invading army burned “Oak Forest,” the home 
of John Jones. 

James Johnson, Provisional Governor of Georgia, was ap¬ 
pointed by President Andrew Johnson, July, 1865, and served 
until December 19, 1865, though in the meantime, with the 
permission of the President of the United States, Charles J. Jen¬ 
kins had been elected 1 Governor by the vote of the people of Geor¬ 
gia, and was inaugurated in Milledgeville, on December 14, 1865. 
We have had in Honorable George Brown’s letter a picture of 
James Johnson’s magnanimous character, when at the Mansion, 
for about four months, he entertained Governor Brown and his 
family. It is a picture for Georgians to treasure. 

James Johnson’s message to the Senate and House of Rep¬ 
resentatives was read by his secretary, December 5, 1865. In it 
he said, “The University of Georgia can and ought to be made 
more than ever the cherished object of the affections of her peo¬ 
ple. He said of the old capitol square, “The public grounds 
should be enlarged, improved, and ornamented; the Halls of Leg¬ 
islation ought to impress the spectator with the power of the 
State; and her courts of justice with the majesty of the law. 
Annually, improvement should be added to improvement, and 
ornament to ornament, until the name of the Capitol shall be¬ 
come a praise to the whole people.” 84 It was James Johnson who 

< 38 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


called a convention of the people, over which Ex-Governor Hers- 
chel V. Johnson presided. “Here we had a great common-wealth 
of a million people, with a long and illustrious history, resolved 
by the crushing and brutal force of war into a tyrannous anarchy 
and seeking the rehabilitation of its bloody and shattered na¬ 
tionality. It was an impressive and grave spectacle and a tragic 
experience for the proud state.” 85 After much discussion of the 
$i8,135,775.00 s6 war debt, James Johnson telegraphed to Presi¬ 
dent Andrew Johnson the words: “We need some aid to reject 
the war debt.” The Convention finally repudiated the war debt, 
abolished slavery, repealed the ordinance of secession, and adopt¬ 
ed a new Constitution. 87 

The inauguration of Governor Jenkins was a grateful specta¬ 
cle, though “the day was cold and raw and rainy and there was 
lacking the usual display of beauty. It seemed as if nature was 
giving token that the episode was a temporary and ineffectual 
part of the tragic comedy of reconstruction . . . This extraordi¬ 
nary and unsurpassable inaugural was most remarkable in its 
discussion of the Negro question. 88 Its kindness to the black race 
was unstinted, yet discriminating.” The Governor said: “The 
public property and State institutions have suffered much from the 
positive ravages and the indirect injuries of the war . . . The 
sources of supply to the educational interests fostered by the 
State have been dried up and new fountains must be opened to 
nourish them. The University hitherto the nursery of statesmen, 
jurists, educators, and ministers of religion, founded and en¬ 
dowed by our forefathers and recognized by the Constitution 
recently assembled in this hall, as the foster child of the State, 
has been of necessity closed 89 during the war. Although bereft 
of former immediate resources, without fault upon their part, 
the trustees relying on the strength of their claims upon the 
State, recognized by the Constitution as the basis of Constitu¬ 
tional obligation, superadded by them, have determined to re¬ 
open the institution in January next.” 90 

While Governor Jenkins and Georgians hoped for peace there 
was no peace. Georgians were proud and bitter and her over- 


4 39 }:* 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


lords were stubborn. Goaded by a hostile United States Congress, 
a distinguished leader who was opposed to secession, urged them 
“never to embrace their despotism”. 91 Another said, “We can 
neither be frightened nor bought from our honor.” 92 It was a 
woman who said, “I would rather be wrong with men like Lee 
and Davis, than right with a lot of miserable oppressors like 
Stanton and Thad Stevens.” 93 Their invective came to be used 
by General Pope to remove men who displeased him “upon pre¬ 
texts and perhaps considerable provocation.” 94 

The Reconstruction Convention which met in Atlanta needed 
money for its expenses and directed the Treasurer 95 of the State 
of Georgia to pay $40,000.00 for this purpose. He refused, ex¬ 
cept upon the Governor’s warrant. The Governor, in polite lan¬ 
guage, explained why he could not issue the order. General Pope 
was relieved of his command 96 over the military district which in¬ 
cluded Georgia, and Major General Meade was put in his 
stead. General Meade addressed a letter to Governor Jenkins, 
“Provisional Governor of Georgia”, and made the same de¬ 
mand for funds which demand again was respectfully refused. 97 
Governor Jenkins was then summarily removed 98 from his Gov¬ 
ernor’s office and so was the Treasurer from his office. Before the 
Governor left the Executive Mansion for his home in Augusta, 
“the campus in front of the Executive Mansion was filled with 
citizens. The Governor appearing upon the front steps of the 
Mansion was greeted with three cheers by the people. The mayor 
of the city, Mr. T. F. Newell, in a short but appropriate ad¬ 
dress informed the Governor that his neighbors and fellow citi¬ 
zens had come to take an affectionate leave of him for the present, 
and also to testify their unqualified approbation of his conduct 
as Governor of Georgia. Governor Jenkins thanked the citizens 
for their approval of his conduct and then in a speech of con¬ 
siderable length, told his audience how hard he had endeavored 
to get on in peace with the military commanders .... The vast 
crowd was greatly affected by this address of their beloved Gov¬ 
ernor and returned to their homes more than ever impressed with 
admiration for their patriotic Governor and detestation of tyran¬ 
ts! 40 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


ny.” 99 The Governor went first to Washington and then to New 
York, taking with him the executive seal 190 and $426,704.72, 101 
which he deposited in New York banks to pay the State’s public 
debt. In 1872, at the end of four years, lacking eighteen days, 
Governor Jenkins returned to Georgia from his self-imposed 
exile, and gave back into the custody of a lawful executive the 
Governor’s seal and the important executive papers that he had 
taken with him. For this heroic deed, he was then, and has been 
ever since, lauded as one of the State’s greatest heroes. 

Mrs. Anna Crawford has spent her long life in Milledgeville. 
Among her early recollections is one when Governor and Mrs. 
Jenkins were her mother’s honor guests at tea. The meal was 
served in the large hall, and the silver candelabra gleamed. Mrs. 
Crawford has in her possession a letter written to her mother, 
Mrs. Richard Orme, by Governor Jenkins, May 6, 1869, and 
in the light of everything that happened it is of historical in¬ 
terest. Before the Governor left Milledgeville, he asked Mr. R. 
M. Orme, Editor of the Southern Recorder, to keep for him a 
small hair trunk, which he promised to do. It was to be placed 
where it would not attract notice. “Oh,/ I’ll just set it under my 
bed,” said Mrs. Orme, and there this hair trunk, two feet long 
and one foot wide, was placed. Soon Mr. Orme was claimed by 
death, and the following is the Governor’s letter to his widow: 
“Augusta, 6th. May, 1869. Mrs. Orme. My Dear Madam: Al¬ 
low me to offer you my sincere condolence upon the very heavy 
bereavement which has fallen upon you. I believe no one out of 
your family circle more feelingly appreciates the weight of the 
calamity, or more sincerely sympathizes with you than I do. 

“But we are all in the hands of our gracious heavenly Father, 
who often smites in love and it is a great satisfaction to me to 
know that you will understand how to submit to his mysterious 
Providences and how to appeal to his sustaining hand. 

“Will oblige me by having the camphor trunk left with you 
sent to me by express to this place as you conveniently can, and 
also the key sealed up. 

“We expect (i. e., Mrs. J. and myself and the two younger 

41 ]» 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


girls) to sail for Europe almost the middle of June, but trust, 
God willing, that we may meet in this world. Present my regards 
to each of your family and to Mr. R. M. Orme. 102 Very truly 
your friend, Charles J. Jenkins.” 

Does any one doubt that this “camphor trunk” held important 
State papers, which the Governor probably took with him to 
Europe and later returned them to the State? 

One of Mrs. Crawford’s happy reminiscences connected with 
the Mansion is that of Miss Rebecca Harris’ pageant which was 
given at Newell’s Hall. Mrs. Crawford, (Anna Orme) was the 
“Queen”, and as her older sister Mary, was leaving for New 
York that day, Miss Josephine Brown, niece of Mrs. Jenkins, 
promised to dress her at the Mansion. When she was all ready, 
Governor Jenkins appeared and bowing in a courtly manner, 
kissed the “Queen’s” hand and said, “I have never before had the 
privilege of kissing a queen’s hand.” Nellie Brown, niece of Mrs. 
Jenkins, was “Flora” in the pageant. 

“The beautiful Miss Huguenin”, 103 when she was eighty-four 
years old, was a visitor at the Mansion. She attended the in¬ 
augural ball for Governor Jenkins when she was seventeen. Her 
mother was a niece of Mrs. Jenkins. Mrs, S. A. Cook, when she 
was seventeen, attended Governor and Mrs. Jenkins’ first levee. 
She remembered that Colonel Thomas Hardeman, President of 
the Senate, was there, and that there was dancing in the long 
parlor. The Misses Brown, nieces of Mrs. Jenkins, wore high 
head-dresses while she herself had short curly hair. 

In 1868, a long memorial was addressed by the Mayor and 
Aldermen of Milledgeville 104 to the General Assembly, then sit¬ 
ting in Atlanta, against the removal of the capital from Milledge¬ 
ville. In the article it was stated that in prosperous times, 
1853-1854, the vote had been adverse to moving the capital and 
“now when the people were never so poor and exhausted, when 
the public buildings have just been re-modelled and repaired at 
a large expense, making them second to but few capital build¬ 
ings in the Union the removal should not be made.” On Au¬ 
gust 4, 1868, Governor Jenkins, in his memorial to the Gen- 


<{ 42 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


eral Assembly, said, “We do not claim that Milledgeville is 
destined to be a great commercial emporium or political centre, 
but we do claim that the city was founded, laid off, and built up 
with special adaptation to all the purposes of a capital.” He 
adds, “The Executive Mansion has been entirely repaired and re¬ 
furnished in superior style.” 105 At Milledgeville, newspapers 
rallied to this effort of the Mayor and the Governor, saying that 
Milledgeville had obtained her beautiful old capitol for “less 
than $100,000.00. A splendid cheap building is not what they 
want, they want a building to cost a million or two,' and the 
money must be spent among them.” Another editor said, “And 
all this wasteful expense when there is a large and commodious 
Executive Mansion well furnished from top to bottom, lying 
empty! We had occasion a few days ago to visit the real Exec¬ 
utive Mansion in Milledgeville and was shown all over the house 
by Mr. Haygood, 1 the gentleman who now has it in charge. It is 
in complete order, and the new furniture purchased for Gov¬ 
ernor Jenkins is good enough for Queen Victoria. It is plain, 
substantial, and rich and much the best that was ever furnished 
any real Governor, honestly elected by the people of Georgia.” 106 
It was Mrs. Jenkins, who, as the Governor’s wife, 107 had the privi¬ 
lege and pleasure of re-furnishing the Mansion. 

After the removal by the military authorities of Governor 
Jenkins, 1 on January 13, 1868, General Meade “detailed for 
duty in the District of Georgia, Brevet Brigadier General Thom¬ 
as H. Ruger, Colonel 33rd Infantry, to be the Governor of 
Georgia.” 108 He served until July, 1868—until Bullock was de¬ 
clared Governor. So, for about six months General Ruger 
lived in the Executive Mansion. The story persists until today, 
that only two Milledgeville women called at the Mansion dur¬ 
ing his stay. One story of his occupancy came from a workman, 
an expert tinner, 109 who said, “This Mansion has never had a 
new roof since I, a boy of eleven years, helped my father put it 

on in 1868.” “Who lived in the Mansion then, Mr. H-?” 

“Why old Ruger, that’s who!” Another story comes from a 
colored nurse 110 who was then a little girl, whose mother worked 


4 43 



THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


in a home diagonally across the street from the Mansion. She 
had often seen General Ruger wearing his high-topped silk hat 
and accompanied by his little daughter Nellie, about six years old- 
She remembered some words of a song the soldiers sang: “I’d be 
like Nellie Ruger, singing in the lane.” She remembered also the 
name of General Ruger’s carriage driver, 111 who, as many in Mil- 
ledgeville know, maintained his erect posture to the end of his 
life. This nurse told how “the policeman” was always out on 
the front side walk, and when he walked down to the corner, 
she would cross the street and peep through the iron gate, and 
that the afternoon sun, shining on it when it was newly painted, 
would make her eyes ache. A most interesting reminiscence of 
this time came from Miss Annie Treanor, who, as a child, at¬ 
tended at the Mansion, the birthday party of General Ruger’s 
little daughter. Mrs. Briscoe, wife of a prominent lawyer, took 
her, and assisted Mrs. Ruger. The birthday table was set in the 
salon, and was the most elaborate and beautiful that she or Mrs. 
Brisco had ever seen. The tense feeling existing at that time is 
illustrated by this story of a friend who visited Milledgeville 
during this period. General Ruger had in his employ, a Southern 
boy who carried messages or mail from the Mansion to the Capi¬ 
tol. The mother of the boy was ill and the money he was earn¬ 
ing was badly needed; but when he was met on the street, he was 
asked, “Are you going to get your boss’ mail?” Or perhaps he 
was ignored entirely. This messenger boy later became a dis¬ 
tinguished man. 

Before General Ruger left, at a meeting of the citizens of 
Milledgeville and its vicinity, Judge I. L. Harris was called to 
the chair, and the following resolution was offered: “Resolved, 
That we deem it a duty of sheer justice to Brig. Gen. Thomas 
H. Ruger, whose office as Provisional Governor of Georgia has 
just terminated, to express to him upon the eve of his departure 
from our midst, our very high appreciation of his deportment 
whilst in office, marked as it was uniformly by candor, courtesy, 
and kindness. 112 Colonel A. H. Kenan, Thos. W. White, Capt. 
Arthur Butts, Judge Harris.” 


<{ 44 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 

A few words more, and the story of the Governors’ families 
must close, as far as it rests in my hands. The items here given 
are “only the limbs and outward flourishes”, one might say. 
Those were days when the deeds of women were but dimly seen 
across the successes of their Governor-husbands. 

‘That best portion of a good woman’s life — 

Her little nameless unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love / 

could doubtlessi be claimed for each one of the mistresses of the 
old Mansion. 

Some one has said that every home should have a sanctuary. 
When Dr. Parks collected the photographs of the eight Gov¬ 
ernors who had lived in the Mansion, and placed them in one 
frame, he made visible the very heart of the old Mansion’s sanc^ 
tuary. Descendants of these old Governors, year after year, have 
come to the Georgia State College for Women. The views of 
these Governors on education have been given already, and it 
was John T. Boifeullet 113 who said of them, “Great as these men 
were, it w T ould have been beyond their powers of divination to 
have foreseen that the student feet of their great granddaugh¬ 
ters 114 would walk the rooms and halls in which they themselves 
once lived and moved and had their being in greatness and pow¬ 
er and popularity, as rulers of Georgia.” 

Both the old Mansion and the Capitol have survived the deso¬ 
lation of the reconstruction period, and each has risen to new¬ 
ness of life, not in connection with the government of the State, 
but in association with the education of its youth. Year after 
year hundreds of students at the Georgia State College for 
Women and at the Georgia Military College pass through the 
portals and breathe the atmosphere of these two historic build¬ 
ings. They can appreciate the inspiration of Agnes Cochran 
Bramblett 115 in her poem “Visiting the Mansion”, which she 
sent to the writer after returning home from a short stay in 
Milledgeville. 


4 45 $ 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


VISITING THE MANSION 

I walk across this threshold and it seems 
I am transported to another sphere. 

Memories of the Old South, and its dreams f 
Move softly in this tranquil atmosphere. 

The world of tumult to which I belong 
Fades to a mist, and I hear soft and low 
The echo of a haunting old love song, 

“In the gloaming . . . when the lights are low.” 


Unseen the phantom hosts of by-gone days 
Accompany me as I walk through the place. 
Stately ladies wearing hoops and stays 
Rich brocade and lavender and lace. 
Old-fashioned gentlemen of chivalry 
Bow as I pass them in the spacious hall, 

And, like an alien in my reverie, 

I hear a faint and ghostly bugle call. 


% 46 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


I hear the harassed governor of state, 
Forceful in his dignified demand, 

Eloquent in serious debate, 

Emphasize, u The South must take her stand! } 
Wind-whispered messages of rich perfume, 

Of rose, and jasmine mingled with the musk. 
And spice pinks, permeate the falling gloom 
Sweetening the star-pierced, summer dusk. 


The mocking birds’ ecstatic tremolo. 

The eerie chorus of the whip-poor-wills, 
Blend with the twilight’s saffron afterglow, 
That broods goldenly on purple hills. 

Break not this brief enchantment—I am part 
And fragment of this fading dream parade. 
I am one, deep down within my heart 
With lavender, old lace and stiff brocade. 


■Agnes Cochran Bramblett. 



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LIVED IN THE MANSION 






THE COLLEGE PRESIDENTS 


Chapter III 

The college was created by a special act of the Georgia Leg¬ 
islature in the summer of 1889, the bill being introduced in the 
lower House by Honorable W. Y. Atkinson, representative from 
Coweta County, who was afterwards, for two terms, Governor 
of the State. Governor Atkinson gallantly attributed the sugges¬ 
tion for the college as coming from his noble wife. 

It was an ancient custom when a great personage was com¬ 
ing, to prepare the way before him: So Milledgeville, as did 
those people of old, prepared for the coming of the great college 
which was so richly to adorn her. The following invitation was 
sent over the State: “The City of Milledgeville requests the 
honor of your presence Thursday, November 27, 1890, to com¬ 
memorate the laying of the corner stone of the Girls’ Normal 
and Industrial School. Committee: Hon. P. J. Cline, Mayor, 
Chmn.; T. F. Newell, R. N. Lamar, Trustees Industrial College; 
Dr. W. H. Hall; A. Joseph; W. T. Conn; R. W. Roberts; 
J. Caraker; Dr. T. O. Powell; G. T. Wiedenman; J. C. Whitak¬ 
er; J. L. Sibley; L. N. Calloway; Hon. Robert Whitfield; Jos. 
E. Pottle; J. N. Moore; C. R. Harper; Hon. D. B. Sanford; 
Maj. J. Colton Lynes.” Along with the creation of this state 
college, came the beautiful gift of the old Executive Mansion, 
which from the first, has been the president’s home. After the 
capital was removed to Atlanta, this building was rented to 
private individuals. It was used sometimes for a home, sometimes 
for a boarding house, and sometimes it was empty. The Act 
creating The Georgia Military and Agricultural College, October 
14, 1879, g ave the use of the Mansion for this College, and it be¬ 
came a boarding house for both the boys and the girls who were 
students there. Before the stories of the Georgia State College for 
Women are told in connection with this old building, there are the 


'€'{ 50 }S^ 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


older stories of the Georgia Military and Agricultural College, 
which must be recounted. In 1887, one hears of Captain Mathe- 
son, Commandant of Cadets, and in 1888, J. I. Garrard, Captain 
of Company A, and Bulow Cambell, Captain of Company B, had 
rooms upstairs in the Mansion. It was “1st Sergeant T. E. Mc¬ 
Cullough” who cut his name deeply across the white marble man¬ 
tel piece 1 in the front room above the old salon, and who was 
expelled for his artistry. When the Mansion became a boarding 
place for the Georgia Military and Agricultural College, the 
large rooms in the rear, and all the rooms, upstairs, were sub¬ 
divided into small rooms, but the partitions stopped short of the 
plastered ceilings, in order not to ruin the beautiful crown mould¬ 
ings. It was at this time that a partition 2 was put in, dividing the 
long salon, which partition remains to the present time. 

It has been the pleasure of all the College Presidents to en¬ 
tertain in the salon and in the old banquet hall, the Governors 
of the State, important legislative committees, educators, and 
other people of note. In almost every such meeting, stories of 
the Mansion and Milledgeville are accented, and often forgot¬ 
ten leaves of history are revealed by the visitors. Having known 
and loved all the Presidents of the College and their families, 
it is not only “Haec nos olim juvabit meminisse”, but also that 
now they are with sincere affection remembered, both the living, 
and the two Presidents and the wife of one, who has died. Dr. 
J. Harris Chappell served as the first president, bringing as mis¬ 
tress of the Mansion his beautiful bride, Etta Kincaid, who was 
his second wife. For fifteen years at the helm of the college stood 
Dr. Chappell with his integrity of character, his unusual gift of 
oratory, and his intense patriotism. One remembers when he 
made one of his matchless Memorial Day addresses in the old 
opera house, that in telling of some particular glory in Georgia’s 
history, he paused and asked, “Will every college girl whose 
grandfather fought for the Confederacy raise her hand?” A 
sea of hands went up and he said : “That is your history; see that 
it is never forgotten.” A few outstanding incidents of his presi¬ 
dency are recalled to mind; one being the organization by Mrs. 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


Chappell of the Nancy Hart Chapter, Daughters of the Ameri¬ 
can Revolution, in the south parlor of the Mansion, February 
7th, 1900. It was Dr. Chappell himself who named the Chapter 
for Nancy Hart. In his own handwriting, the Chapter treasures 
his description of this heroine: “By her devoted patriotism and 
daring deeds in behalf of the American cause, in the most trying 
days of the Revolution, this noble and high-spirited woman has 
won for herself a place among Georgia’s most illustrious heroes.” 
Another memorable occasion was when Dr. and Mrs. Chappell 
entertained at the Mansion Mr. Wu Ting Fang, 3 Minister 
Plenipotentiary and Ambassador Extraordinary to the United 
States, from China. The long reception line stood in the rotun¬ 
da and the down-stairs rooms of the Mansion were so packed 
with humanity, that, if a lady dropped her handkerchief, it re¬ 
mained lost, for no one could stoop to pick it up. 

All the children of Dr. and Mrs. Chappell were born in the 
Mansion, and the two living daughters, Cornelia and Loretto, 
are loved by many old girls of the Georgia Normal and Indus¬ 
trial College. Mrs.Chappell’s sister “Miss May”, was married 
in the rotunda and her tiny nieces remembered in later years that 
pink ice-cream was served. It was during the second year of the 
College that the beautiful old lace-brick wall around the square 
(like the wall surrounding the Cline house in Milledgeville), 
was removed. 4 

Dr. Marvin McTyeire Parks, the second President, served 
ably for twenty years. There was great expansion of the College 
under his guidance, both in buildings and in the number of stu¬ 
dents. The buildings added to the campus during his administra¬ 
tion were Chappell Hall, Terrell Hall proper, the Arts Build¬ 
ing, the High School Building, the Grade Building, Parks Hall, 
Ennis Hall, the Auditorium, and, without an appropriation of 
money from the State, the three annexes to Terrell Hall. He 
stated his creed for the College in his Annual Report, June, 
I 9 I 3 : “The Georgia State College for Women is distinctly a 
woman’s college. It does not seek to imitate the educational prac¬ 
tices that have prevailed in colleges for men. It does not seek to 

4 52 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


conform to tradition. In its fixed requirements, the College has 
deliberately broken away from what it considers the false fash¬ 
ions of the past. It believes that women have interests and ambi¬ 
tions and spheres of usefulness peculiarly their own. It believes 
that there are fields of work for women which call for new 
courses of study. It believes that the education of young women 
should be vitally concerned first, about matters of health and 
character and personality. It believes that all the sciences and 
arts should be made to contribute to an improvement of the 
home, the school, the farm, the child, and of society in general. 
Following these new ideals in education, the College asks not 
only what has been taught, but also what ought to be taught to 
women.” 

Dorothy, the youngest child of Dr. and Mrs. Parks, was born 
in the Mansion, and both she and her eldest sister Ruth, were 
married in the rotunda. Mrs. Parks, in a fascinating manner, 
tells of their entertainment of Champ Clark, of William Jen¬ 
nings Bryan and his daughter, then Mrs. Ruth Owens, of Mrs. 
W. H. Felton, of Miss Martha Berry, of Walter Hines Page, 
of “Little Joe” Brown, and of Helen Keller, her mother, her 
secretary, and her teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy. Governor 
and Mrs. Terrell, also, were their guests; one of the joys and 
one of the mysteries of their visit being an elegant luncheon for 
twelve people which cost the exact sum of ninety-seven cents— 
one dollar being the amount allowed by the head of the Domes¬ 
tic Science Department. Governor Terrell told about this lunch¬ 
eon wherever he went in the State. Mrs. Parks being a musician, 
the Mansion became the center of many musical gatherings. 

Perhaps it is not becoming in the writer to speak of the ac¬ 
complishments of her husband, the third President to live in the 
Mansion—of him who in his forty years of loving service to 
Georgia girls in this College, in the capacity of Professor, Dean, 
Acting President, President, and now President Emeritus, has 
a host of happy reminiscences from which a few incidents stand 
out. At a dinner party, one guest’s best friend in Ohio had acted 
as President of the Senate in the Mock Legislature 5 held by the 


4 53 & 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


invading army in the old Capitol in 1864. Another interesting 
visitor was the grandson 6 of Samuel A. Worcester, that distin¬ 
guished minister of the Gospel, who was imprisoned in the Geor¬ 
gia State Penitentiary, just across from the Mansion on Han¬ 
cock Street, because he refused either to take the oath of al¬ 
legiance to Georgia laws or to leave the State, though the Gov¬ 
ernor sent to him on his arrival at the penitentiary, the Methodist 
pastor 7 in Milledgeville, who urged him to do the one or the 
other, so that he would not have to be imprisoned. The greet¬ 
ings on the occasion of this visit were as follows: “Mrs. B., we 
have come from Cambridge, Massachusetts, all the way down 
to New Echota, the capital of the Cherokee Nation. We have 
come from New Echota to see you and your husband. Do you 
know anything about Samuel A. Worcester?”—“I know all 
about him, do you know anything about him?”—“I know all 
about him”. A charming hour followed which resulted in much 
talk, an exchange of valuable books, and of pleasant memories 
afterwards. Another happy incident was connected with that 
memorable day when the Ina Dillard Russell Library was to be 
dedicated. Mrs. Russell wrote to the hostess, “I may not, on this 
occasion, be able to have all my thirteen children present, but I 
promise you a good representation!” She made good her prom¬ 
ise. 

A unique entertainment stands out in one’s memory. Special 
scenes from Dr. Amanda Johnson’s great Bicentennial Pageant 8 
of Georgia, which had been staged three times in the College 
auditorium, were transferred to the Mansion for a Georgia Day 
celebration. There were almost a hundred actors dressed in their 
artist-designed costumes. The Atlanta Journal presented to the 
hostess its cut of Brewerton’s cartoon for Georgia’s birthday 
celebration, and it provided a souvenir for each guest. In the 
south parlor. Tomochichi, Senawki, Toonahowi, Mary Mus- 
grove, and their friends gathered; in the north parlor were the 
people of the gay nineties, in the rotunda stood General Ogle¬ 
thorpe and his friends, in the octagon room the members of the 
Secession Convention held sway, in the long basement hall down 


<{ 54 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


stairs was shown the fauna and flora of Georgia (the fauna prov¬ 
ing a choice attraction), and in the old banquet hall was the 
Trustees’ Garden. After steam heat was put in the Mansion, 
the coal grates became useless, and it was decided to remove 
them and to restore the original fire-places. Then it was discov¬ 
ered that back of the grates, all covered with brick and mortar, 
were the beautiful linings of the fire-places made of stamped 
iron or as one architect declared of copper-bronze. The improve¬ 
ments on the campus made during Dr. Beeson’s presidency were 
the buildings of The Marvin Parks Memorial Hospital, 
of Bell Hall, and of the Ina Dillard Russell Library, (all three 
of these buildings being erected without any appropriation from 
the State of Georgia), the remodelling of Atkinson Hall, so as 
to make it harmonize in architecture with the surrounding build¬ 
ings, and the acquisition of the Nursery School. The greatest 
service to the College which this President rendered was the 
raising of the scholastic standards for both students and faculty. 
During his administration the College was awarded classification 
U A” by the American Association of Teachers’ Colleges. The 
courses leading to the degree of B.S. in Home Economics were 
approved by the Federal Vocational Bureau, and the new courses 
in Library Science, after inspection by a committee on courses in 
Library Science appointed by the Southern Association of Col¬ 
leges and Secondary Schools, were approved by the said Associa¬ 
tion at its next meeting. 

After a reception at the Mansion, a visitor from New York 
sent to the writer the following poem: 

THE ROTUNDA 

Coming from the war?n sunshine 
We saw them first from the door-way — 

The curved branches of blossoms, 

Red and white, 


55 > 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


In a slender silver vase: 

Curved branches pointing heavenward; 

Glowing in a white stillness 
Leading the eye and mind upward. 

They stood in the center of the building — 

The rounded heart of the house, 

In the Rotunda 

It had no windows, only a round and clouded glass 
In the center of the high dome 
Over the flowers: 

The light fell down on the flowering branches, 

The branches reached to the light — 

A pathway of secret communion; 

The room a secret and hushed heart, 

The flowers its innermost aspiration. 


In by-gone days the statesmen of Georgia 
Must have met in this place with the Governor 
And consulting, worked out the laws of State; 
We heard their ghosts in the night 
Pacing the floor with dignified steps, 

Stroking their chins above their white stocks. 


But now the Executive Mansion executes only 
The beautiful business of home: 

In the Rotunda no more are the laws of Georgia discussed. 
For greater than laws are lives of value: 

Here by the home’s gracious Master and Mistress, 

Are the blossoming branches of youth 
Curved to the light. 

—Marguerite H. Frost 9 

4 56 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


For the new President of the College and his interesting fam¬ 
ily there was a warm welcome. They grace the old Mansion and 
already they have entertained many distinguishd guests—an Eng¬ 
lish lord™ among them. President and Mrs. Wells have; planned 
for the old Mansion’s centennial, the restoration of the salon to 
its original size and beauty. The alumnae and other friends of 
the College are rallying to the cry, “Let’s make the salon as 
beautiful as it was in the days of old.” The Robert E. Lee Chap¬ 
ter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, has sponsored a his¬ 
toric pilgrimage, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to¬ 
wards furnishing the south parlor of the Mansion, which was 
the “Blue Room” of old days. 

Besides restoring the salon, President Wells is in the midst 
of a great expansion program for the College. Already he has 
added the formal garden to the beauty of the campus, acquired 
a college camp on Lake Burton, in North Georgia, built an addi¬ 
tion to the Atkinson Flail dining room, and constructed a swim¬ 
ming pool, and Beeson Hall. Now comes the Herculean task of 
building the new gymnasium, the music building, the training 
school building, the new dormitory, and five miles out on the old 
Champion place a dam is being built across a stream which will 
make a lake twenty-five acres in extent. The student body has 
increased, and the Faculty, with fine scholastic preparation, has 
been enlarged. 

Mrs. Wells, though a member of other organizations, has 
made a specialty of the work in the Parent-Teacher Association. 
She holds a State office in the Society. 

It is not college people only, it is the entire State that shares 
in the pride of this historic Mansion, and wishes for it another 
century as rich in usefulness and honor as its first one hundred 
years. 


<{ 57 }> 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


FAIR MILLEDGEVILLE 

I 

Fair Milledgeville, proud seat of olden rule 
In days portentous to our Georgia’s fate, 

We hail thee in deep reverence and awe, 

For thou hast clasped the college and the school 
Within a love, which naught can e’er abate, 

So deep th& passion is where-from to draw 
As from a spring, whose waters crystal cool, 

Well forth with purling soft and delicate. 

Fair Milledgeville mayst thou forever be 
The glory of our Georgia and remain 
Faithful forever to the priceless goals 
That thy wise founders set of old for thee, 

Binding thy fate as with a golden chain 
To thy high service as time forward rolls! 

II 

We love thy homes, where happiness abides — 

Thy streets, where stately trees their crests uprear, 
Wherein the birds with jollity and cheer 
Do weave their cunning nests, while joyous tides 
Of melody outflow and glad the heart: 

We love the old and lorn, who on thy breast 
Find deep contentment and unwearied rest. 

We love the busy folk that throng thy mart; 

But most of all we love the glad response 
Of heart akin to heart in matters great, 

The joys of common service that elate 
The spirit and the coverts that ensconce 
Life’s secret archives, holy intimate, 

Wherein lie hid the secrecies of fate. 


•€{ 58 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


III 

But noblest work of all the precious care 
Wherewith thou guardest all things that pertain 
To the increasing of the precious gain 
Achieved in human knowledge by thy rare 
And priceless wealth, the colleges and schools 
That arm thy brilliant children with keen tools 
To build a life-work, rich and wondrous fair, 
Wherein a bounteous spirit dwells and rules. 

To thee our noble Georgia does entrust 
The culprit and the mentally unsound, 

To bring them back to right and psychic poise, 
For from thee radiates a spirit just, 

Wherein do plenteous charities abound, 

Enriching life and filling hearts with joys. 

—Francis Potter Daniels 11 . 


4 59 }> 


THE BUILDING AND PLAN OF THE EXECUTIVE 
MANSION 


Chapter IV 

John Pell, Architect 
Timothy Porter, Superintendent 

The building of the Mansion was authorized by an Act of 
the Legislature in 1835. On page 207, of the Senate Journal for 
that year one reads: “Whereas the present Government House 
in the town of Milledgeville is in a decayed and uncomfortable 
situation and condition and is entirely unsuitable for the resi¬ 
dence of the Governor of Georgia: Resolved, that $15,000.00 
be appropriated for the purpose of erecting and furnishing a 
new Government house of suitable dimensions at or near the 
place where the present one now stands, and that William C. 
Dawson, David A. Rees, W. Murray, Benjamin S. Jordan, 
and Augustus H. Kenan, 1 be appointed a committee with the 
Governor, who shall be chairman of the same, whose duty it 
shall be to carry this object into effect and it shall be their duty 
to select a suitable site, agree on a place, contract for and su¬ 
perintend the building of the same, who shall receive it (when it 
is completed) and disburse the aforesaid appropriation; and it 
shall be further the duty of said committee to direct such re¬ 
pairs about said lot as they deem necessary, out of any balance 
that may be unexpended of such fund, and that this appropriation 
be inserted in the appropriation bill.” 

In 1836, an act was passed “that an additional sum 2 of $15,- 
000.00 which was appropriated by the last Legislature be, and 
the same is hereby appropriated for the purpose of building a 
Government House and the appurtenances thereto.” By a joint 
resolution of both of the General Assembly, Messrs. Harris, of 
Baldwin, and Hammond, of Gray, were added to the Senate 

4 60 }§•- 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


Committee to superintend the erection of the Government House. 
In his “Letter Book” Governor Schley names the Building Com¬ 
mittee as “Messrs. Augustus H. Kenan, Charles W. Hammond 
and Iverson L. Harris.” 

In 1837, an act 3 was passed, “that the sum of $5,000.00 be and 
the same is hereby appropriated to furnish the Government 
House in the progress of building and that the same be drawn 
by warrant of the Governor and expended under the direction of 
the building committee.” In 1838, the committee appointed to 
superintend the construction of the Executive Mansion was au¬ 
thorized to rent a house in the City of Milledgeville for the Gov¬ 
ernor. 4 

In 1838, $20,000.00 was appropriated, “or as much thereof 
as may be necessary to complete the Government House in the 
City of Milledgeville, and the said committee are instructed to 
finish said building and out-houses and to rail in the lot in such 
style as the cost shall in no wise exceed in the whole sum of 
$50,000.00.” 5 

In 1839, it was resolved, “That His Excellency the Governor 
is hereby authorized to have the lot around the Executive Man¬ 
sion neatly enclosed and pay for same out of Contingent Fund, 
and have such other improvements made on such lot, and purchase 
such furniture for the use of the house as shall be necessary.” 6 
In the Treasurer’s Report appended, is the sum of $6,000.00 
for completion of the Government House and $2,000.00 for 
the out-buildings. 7 In 1839, it was agreed to pay “Five Dollars 
per day to James Gray of Jones County while in actual service 
in coming to the Seat of Government as one of the Building Com¬ 
mittee of the Executive Mansion—(p. 20, Acts of the General 
Assembly 1839). 

The Governor’s warrants and the Building Committee’s ex¬ 
penditures should reveal the name of the architect of the Man¬ 
sion, but there was some uncertainty because each of two men was 
paid one hundred dollars for his plan. John Pell 8 was paid 1 from 
the Contingent Fund one hundred dollars March 20, 1837, “for 
the best plan for the residence of the Governor as approved by 

H* 61 }> 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


the Committee”, and C.i B. McClusky 9 was paid by the' Legisla¬ 
ture one hundred dollars April 19, 1837, “for best plan fur¬ 
nished by him: of a house for the residence of the Governor.” 
The words “as approved by the Committee”, compel the writer 
to favor John Pell as the architect whose plan was followed in 
the building. Every detail of building the Executive Mansion 
was directed by this committee. Governor Gilmer’s message to 
the House of Representatives on the 6th of December, 1838, ex¬ 
plains, and the difficulty is removed in deciding upon the name 
of the architect. He writes in the Executive Minutes, (pp. 519- 
520). “In answer to the resolution of the House of Representa¬ 
tives, requesting this Department to communicate to that Body 
any information in the possession of the Department, in refer¬ 
ence to the course which was pursued by my predecessor, in pro¬ 
curing the plan and specifications for the new Government House, 
and the arrangement adopted for the execution of the same, I 
would respectfully state, that the only paper which J find on file, 
or recorded, in the Executive Department, containing any part 
of the information sought for by the House is the contract: be¬ 
tween the Building Committee and the Superintendent, a copy 
of which I herewith transmit to the House.” The Building Com¬ 
mittee, engaged the architect, also the Superintendent and with 
Governor Schley as chairman, directed entirely the building and 
furnishing of the Mansion. John Pell evidently made “the very 
neat plan for a home for the Governor of Georgia with which 
Governor Schley was well pleased.” 

The Superintendent of the erection of the Government House 
was Mr. Timothy Porter of Tarrington, Connecticut. His name 
occurs many times in the Treasurer’s reports, and he is named in 
the Executive Minutes also. If the reports of the Treasurers are 
studied from the year 1836 through the year 1840, one thinks that 
every possible expenditure must have been?named; from the brick 
and lumber, the clearing of the ground, and the building of the 
fence, on down to the filling up of the old well and the digging of 
the new one, but there is never a mention of the granite in the build¬ 
ing. William J. Welborn was paid $2,000.00 in money, “for to 


4 62 > 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


transmit to the North to purchase articles for building the Gov¬ 
ernment House.” 10 When Dr. Parks was President of the College, 
he wrote in the Atlanta Journal } that the granite used in build¬ 
ing the Mansion came from Maine to Savannah by boat, and was 
hauled to Milledgeville by ox-cart. One fancies that this granite 
was purchased by Mr. Welborn with the cash supplied by the 
State. In a study of the Treasurers’ reports, one finds that the 
furnishings of the Mansion were gradually acquired. It was not 
until 1840 that the sum of $376.85 was paid for “chandeliers and 
exchange for the Executive Mansion.” In December, 1837, 
$ 1,000.00 was paid to “N. M. Crawford for purchasing articles of 
furniture for Government House.” In May 1838, there was paid 
to “Benjamin T. Bethune for purchasing furniture for Govern¬ 
ment House $5,000.00”. In 1840, the Penitentiary was paid 
$249.21 for furniture for the Executive Mansion. While the 
new Mansion was being built and the lot cleared and improved, 
arrangements for the Governor’s family had to be made. On 
January 1, 1838, Horace P. Ward 11 was paid $600.00 “for rent 
of home for Governor.” On Jan. 19, 1839, the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives adopted a resolution: “That the committee appointed 
to superintend the construction of the Executive Mansion be and 
they hereby are authorized to rent a house in the City of Mil¬ 
ledgeville for the use of His Excellency the Governor, until the 
Executive Mansion be sufficiently finished for a residence.” 12 On 
January 19, 1839, there was paid to “H. P. Ward 13 $100.00 for 
rent of a house for the use of the Governor.” On April 8, 1839, 
there was paid to “Jeremiah Beall 14 $225.00 for the rent of a 
house for the Governor.” We know that the Ward and Beall 
homes were among the handsomest in Milledgeville for we read 
in the Executive Minutes of 1837, when the area around the 
State House was to be enclosed with a fence, the specifications 
read that the fencq was, to be “similar! to that in front of Col. 
Ward’s or Capt. Grieve’s house in Milledgeville.” The Beall 
house is the central portion of Miss Mary Cline’s home, to which 
additions have been made. 

Governor Gilmer, who was the first Executive to live in the 

«f 63 ]> 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


Mansion, enjoyed the privilege for a short time only, as the new 
Executive Charles J. McDonald moved in before the meeting 
of the next Legislature on November the fourth, 1839. Gov¬ 
ernor Gilmer made his retiring speech before that body on the 
next day, November the fifth. 

Almost without exception every architect who visits the Man¬ 
sion says: “Tell me who added the cupola—it was not designed 
with the original building.” In the old pictures of the Mansion, 
the cupola is absent. Mr. Herschel Sanford, who has since died, 
told the following story to the writer: “Jim Comfort was a 
Northern man, who before the War Between the States, lived 
for some time in Milledgeville. It was he who designed and built 
the cupola. When the war came, he joined the Confederate Army, 
and after the war he visited his Milledgeville friends.” 

Those of us who have seen the Mansion day by day, and year 
by year, are like the two lads in Shakespeare’s Winter's Tale, 
who: 


“thought there was no more behind, 

But such a day tomorrow as today > 

And to be boy eternal” 

until Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bush-Brown came to Milledgeville 
and the former, who was District Officer of the W. P. A. His¬ 
toric American Building Survey, showed his pictures of historic 
homes and afterwards sent his description of the old Executive 
Mansion for additions to be made to it if there were any details 
he had not had opportunity to observe, did it occur to us that 
there is not one architectural feature of the old Mansion too 
insignificant to be of interest. The description here given is based 
on Mr. Bush-Brown’s, the additions to it being made by the writ¬ 
er and placed in brackets. 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


THE EXECUTIVE MANSION 

Owner—The Georgia State College for Women. 

Occupied by Guy H. Wells, President. 

Date of erection—1838. 

(Architect—Either John Pell or C. B. Clusky, the writer fa¬ 
vors John Pell). 

(Builder—Timothy Porter of Tarrington, Conn.) 

Present condition—good. 

The salon about 25' wide by 60 ft. long has been made into 
two rooms with hallway between. The cupola was built a little 
later, as early view shows it without this feature. 

Number of stories—Two story and basement. 

Materials of construction—Foundation and “exterior walls 
brick-stuccoed and lined,” window facings of granite and granite 
around basement. 

Floors—pine 5 34 x 6J4- Interior walls wood and plaster. 
Roof, hand-dipped tin. 

(Other existing records: P. 18, A Treasure Album of Mil- 
ledgeville, by Nelle Womack Hines, 15 and The Old Executive 
Mansion, The Milledgeville Times, February 11, 1935, by Mrs 
J. L. Beeson. 16 ) 

Additional data—The house is square, about 60 ft. on a side, 
with central rotunda lighted by a skylight at the top of the dome. 

The stairway is in the middle of the south side and leads to 
a balcony, circular in plan, which projects into the central rotun¬ 
da and serves as a means of communication with the second-story 
rooms. 

All first-story and basement doors framed with Greek Antae 
panelled and entablature over head. Chamfered wood-panelled 
window jambs and trim to floor, enframement same as doors. 

Plaster-coffered dome over central rotunda with gold decora¬ 
tion on ornamental mouldings. Principal first story rooms have 
plaster cornices, plaster ceiling, medallions four feet in diameter, 
wood base. 


<{ 65 $ 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


All down-stair windows, panelled beneath. Black marble man¬ 
tels in salon, white marble mantels in parlor on right, and room 
back of parlor, and also in four up-stair bedrooms. 

Stucco Ionic columns, appear to have entasis. Main entabla¬ 
ture to have stucco architrave and frieze and wood cornice. 

Columns with 34" diameter, have granite caps and bases. The 
portico floor and steps, front door enframement (also side door 
and basement doors’ enframement) and window head and sills 
are granite (and a granite base trimming, two feet high and 
seven inches thick encircles the foundation of the building). The 
large front door of pine is panelled and carved with silver-plated 
knob and a great key. Like it, and even more beautiful (as the 
walls are thicker), are the side and back basement doors. Above 
the front door, deeply cut in the granite are the words “Exec¬ 
utive Mansion, 1838”. 

It has been claimed that an underground passage, leading to 
the old State House, existed, but it has never been found. 

Harold Bush-Brown 
District Officer, HABS 

Besides the statements in brackets, there were added to the 
foregoing list, the following features of the building: 

First: A spiral stairway, beginning in the basement, winds 
around the North rotunda walls of the first floor and emerges 
near the old-time bath room. When the closet doors are closed, 
no one either in the basement, or on the second floor would sus¬ 
pect the existence of the staircase. When gasoline gas-machines 
which the College installed, existed, this dark-as-night stairway 
was illuminated by burning gas jets—the pipes of which have 
only lately been removed. This was the servants’ stairway. 

Second: The present balcony over the south basement door 
was originally small. The granite floor, level on top, is gracefully 
arched on the bottom, making attractive the basement entrance. 

Third: Around the basement, there is on the front and the two 
sides, a retaining wall four-feet high and about five-feet wide. 

•£{ 66 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


It is made of brick surmounted with granite and has two small 
flights of granite steps descending (one on either side of the side- 
balcony) into the basement entrance. 

Fourth: The two fireplaces in the salon are lined with what 
one architect declares is copper-bronze and not stamped iron 
which was ordinarily used for such purposes. 

Fifth: The old banquet hall is in the basement just underneath 
the salon and is equal to it in size. 

Sixth:The appearance of the outer walls of this old-time Man¬ 
sion (now painted white) has been described by a newspaper 
columnist 17 as the color of “mellow-rose, the color of a lovely 
pink-tinged sunset just deepening into crimson.” The large “mel¬ 
low-rose” squares were pencilled in a soft gray. 

A distinguished Boston architect who visited the Mansion 
stated that one might see better floors, more beautiful door-carv¬ 
ings, handsomer mantels, and more elaborate window panelling 
in other buildings, but nowhere would he find better proportions 
or a more perfect example of Georgian architecture. 


4 67 


BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES 
EARLIER EXECUTIVE MANSIONS 

Chapter I 


Note: 


Note: 


Note: 


1 P. 130, Senate Journal, 1803. 

Act passed May 11, 1803. 

2 P. 107, Compilation of the Laws of the State of Georgia , 1800- 
1810, Augustin Smith Clayton. 

3 Pp. 279-280, Idem. Act of Dec. 7, 1805. 

4 Pp. 135-136, House Journal, 1803. 

(Extra Session). 

Benjamin Easley, Surveyor. 

5 The G. M. C. Cadet, article by Dr. E. A. Tigner. 

The Union Recorder, article by Dr. E. A. Tigner. 

The Maj. John Horton Chapter D. A. C. will for the 1938 Georgia 
Day Program erect in Milledgeville a memorial to these men. 

6 $20,000.00 appropriated for N. wing, Act Dec. 20, 1834. 

The Courier, Augusta, Ga., Nov. 3, 1834. 

P. 26, Acts of General Assembly, 1836, $30,000.00 appropriated 
for porticos. Act. Dec. 20, 1834. Appropriation for S. wing. 

7 P. 248, Dixie After the War, Myrta Lockett Avery, (reprint) 

1937. 

P. 68, The Life and Poems of Mirabeau B. Lamar, Philip Graham, 

1938. 


8 The Atlanta Journal article by Pete Craig, June 3, 1937. 

9 The Atlanta Joitrnal, article by Colonel Jim Walton, Feb. 28, 
1937. 


10 Pp. 96-97, Romantic Passages in Southwestern History, A. B. 
Meek, 1857. 

Samuel Dale, pamphlet, by Clayton Rand, pub. by Mississippi 
Power Co., Meridian, Miss. 1937. 

11 P. 234, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, George 
Gillman Smith, 1900. 

Note: 12 Mrs. Anna Orme Crawford told the writer that this story 
appeared in an old edition of her father’s paper. He was editor 
of The Southern Recorder. 

P. 234, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, Smith, 
1900. 


4 68 }> 


13 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


Note: 


Note: 


14 P. 571, Compilation of the Laws of the State ! of Georgia, 1800- 
1810, Clayton. 

15 P. 51, Executive Minutes, Rhodes Memorial Building, Miss Ruth 
Blair, State Historian, 1935. 

16 P. 198, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Adiel Sherwood, 3rd 
edition, 1937. 

17 P. 698, Compilation of the Laws of the State of Georgia, 1800- 
1 10, Clayton. 

Report of the Commissioners of the State's Indebtedness to Thom¬ 
as and Scott, Dec. 12, 1811. Owned by Mr. Telamon Cuyler, Jones 
Co., Ga. 

18 Pp. 268 269, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George 
White, 1854. 

19 P. 392, The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Dec. 1937. Manuscript 
letter in Library of Historical Society of Wisconsin. 

20 P. 38, History of Baldwin County, Mrs. S. A. Cook, 1935. 

21 The writer owns 2 vols. of law inscribed “D. W. Mitchell, Mt. 
Nebo”. 

22 P. 38, History of Baldwin County, Mrs. S. A. Cook, 1935, Arti¬ 
cle by Mrs. Sarah Harris Hall, A Scrap of Milledgeville’s An¬ 
cient History. 

23 So called by Mr. Randolph of Virginia, after a speech in Con¬ 
gress. 

24 P. 376, Vol. 4, Bicentennial Memoirs and Memories, Lucian 
Knight, 1933. 

25 Newspaper article, Peter Early, W. H. Sparks, The Atlanta Con¬ 
stitution. 

26 P. 221, Statistics of Georgia, George White, 1849. 

27 Newspaper article, Peter Early, W. H. Sparks, The Atlanta Con¬ 
stitution. 

28 P. 227, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George White, 
1854. 

29 The Atlanta Constitution, “Peter Early”, W. H. Sparks. 

30 Idem. 

31 Unpublished family memoirs, owned by Mrs. Frank Herring, 
a great granddaughter. 

32 P 157, Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia 
of the Cherokees, and the Author, George R. Gilmer, (reprint), 
1926. 

33 P. 274, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, 3rd Ed., Adiel Sher¬ 
wood, 1837. 

4 69 




THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


Note: 


Note: 


Note: 


Note: 


34 P. 153, Vol. I, Georgia’s Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends, 
Lucian Knight, 1913. 

35 P. 347, The Statistics of Georgia, George White, 1849. 

36 Pp. 512-513, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George 
White, 1854. 

37 P. 87, Vol. I, Memoirs, Memorials and Legends of Georgia, 
Lucian Knight, 1913. 

38 P. 184, History of the Georgia Baptist Association, Jesse Mer¬ 
cer, 1836. 

39 P. 303, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Adiel Sherwood, 
3rd Ed., 1837. 

40 P. 225, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Adiel Sherwood, 
2nd Ed., 1829. 

41 Rev. Billington Sanders, member of Legislature from Columbia 
Co. 

Independent Press, Eatonton, Ga., Oct. 14, 1854. 

42 P. 303, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Adiel Sherwood, 3rd 
Ed., 1837. 

Pp. 50-55, Memories of Elder Jesse Mercer, C. D. Mallory, 1844. 

43 Statistics of Georgia, Rev. George White, 1849. 

44 Pp. 129-130, The Memoirs of Fifty Years, W. H. Sparks, 1872. 

45 Mr. Tom Napier, Baldwin County, Ga. 

46 P. 201, Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Adiel Sherwood, 3rd 
Ed., 1837. 

47 P. 199, Idem. 

48 Mr. Cuyler has given historical data both to the collection at 
the Rhodes Memorial Building in Atlanta and to the State Uni¬ 
versity at Athens. 

49 P. 207, Senate Journal, 1835. 

50 Pp. 245^246, Life of Bishop Capers, William Wightman. 

51 Woodville, their summer home at Scottsboro, known as the Du- 
Bignon place. 

52 Pp. 233-234, Life of Bishop Capers, William Wightman. 

P. Ill, History of Missions Belonging to the Methodist Episco¬ 
pal Church, N. Bangs, 1832. 

53 The Atlanta Journal, article by T. B. Rice, Mar. 6, 1935. 

54 P. 10, Vol. Ill, Collections of the Georgia Historical Society. 

55 P. 101, Georgia and State Rights, Ulrich B. Phillips, 1902. 

56 Newspaper article (Atlanta) “The Greatest Gubernatorial Con¬ 
tests in Georgia History ,, > signed, “R. B. P.” 

4 70 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


57 P. 59, Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer, Garnett An¬ 
drews, 1870. 

P. 84, Memoirs of Fifty Years, W. H. Sparks, 1872. 

P. 162, Life and Times of William] H. Crawford, J. E. D. Shipp, 
1909. 


58 

59 

60 
61 
62 

Note: 63 

64 

65 

66 

Note: 

67 

Note: 68 

69 

70 

71 

72 

73 

74 

75 

76 

77 

78 

79 


P. 161, Idem. 

P. 61, Reminiscences of an Old Georgia Lawyer, Garnett An¬ 
drews, 1870. 

The Missionary, Dec. 8, 1823, Pub. at Mt. Zion, Hancock Co., Ga. 
P. 293, The Life of George M. Troup, Edward J. Harden, 1859. 
P. 229, History of Baldwin County, Mrs. S. A. Cook, 1925. 
Camilla Sandford and Sarah Ball were two of the children. 

The Union Recorder, Mar. 5, 1923. 

P. 229, History of Baldwin County, Mrs. S. A. Cook, 1925. 

P. 250, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Stephen F. Miller, 1858. 

The Journal, Milledgeville, Ga., Mar. 29th, 1825. 

The Missionary, Mar. 14, 1825, Pub. at Mt. Zion. Hancock Co. 

Letters dated Mar. 2, 1825, sent by J. W. Jackson Aide de Camp. 

P. 112, Niles Register, Vol. 28, Apr. 16, 1825. 

The Masonic Hall was then in old Darien Bank. 

Pp. 250-251, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Stephen F. Miller, 1858. 

Pp. 251-252, Idem. 

The Journal, Milledgeville, Ga., Mar. 15, 1825. 

The Union Recorder, Milledgeville, Mar. 5, 1923. 

P. 253, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Stephen F. Miller, 1858. 

The Journal, Milledgeville, May 3, 1825. 

P. 398, The Statistics of the State of Georgia, George White, 
1849. 

The Georgia Courier, Augusta, Nov. 14, 1831. 

Pp. 90-91, Vol. I, Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia , 
Wilson Lumpkin, 1907. 

The Georgia Courier, Augusta, Nov. 14, 1831. 

Pp. 112 and 114, Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Geor¬ 
gia, Wilson Lumpkin, 1907. 

P. 237, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George White, 
1854. 

Treaty of New Echota, Dec. 29, 1835. 

4 71 }> 


Note: 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


80 

81 

Note: 82 
Note: 83 

84 

85 

86 

87 

88 

89 

90 

91 

92 

93 

94 

95 

96 

97 

98 

99 

100 

Note: 101 
102 


P. 294, Shenvood’s Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, 3rd Ed., 
1837. 

P. 202, Journal of the Senate, 1835. 

Mrs. Martha Lumpkin Compton told this story to Miss Alice 
Napier of Milledgeville. 

Mr. J. Walter Mason of Atlanta, Ga., was one of the boys who 
read the history in manuscript. 

P. 279, Sherwood’s Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, 3rd Ed., 
1837. 

P. 25, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Stephen F. Miller, 1858. 

P. 362, Gilmer’s Georgians (reprint), 1926. 

P. 32, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Stephen F. Miller, 1858. 

P. 130, Georgia and State Rights, Ulrich Bonnell Phillips 1902. 
P. 442, Gilmer’s Georgians (reprint), 1926. 

Pp. 238-239, Historical Collection of Georgia, Rev. George White, 
1854. 

Inaugural Address, 1836. 

The Southern Recorder, Milledgeville, Nov. 28, 1837. 

P. 26, Acts of 1836. 

P. 46, Resolutions, Journal House of Representatives, 1836. 

When elected Governor in 1829 and again in 1837. 

The Southern Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga., Apr. 24, 1838. 

P. 15, Acts of the General Assembly , 1838. 

P. 13, Acts of the General Assembly, 1839. 

(Index to Resolutions), Jan. 19th, No. 306, $100.00; Apr. 8th, 
No. 403, $225.00. 

Pp. 332-333, Gilmer’s Georgians (reprint), 1926. 

P. 103, Annals of Georgia, A. L. Hull, 1906. 

P. 239, Gilmer’s Georgians (reprint), 1926. 

P. 209, Idem. 

Governor Gilmer’s Letter Book, 1931, Historical Museum, G. S. 
C. W. 

Pp. 332-333 , Gilmer’s Georgians (reprint), 1926. 

The Georgia Courier, Augusta, Nov. 17, 1831. 

Mrs. Chappell, wife of the first President of the College told this 
story to the writer. 

The Southern Recorder, Milledgeville, Aug. 21, 1838. 

. 4 72 }> 


Note 

Note 

Note 

Note 


Note: 

Note: 


BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES 
THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE OLD 
GOVERNORS’ MANSION 
Chapter II 

1 31, sec. 14, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of 
Georgia, 1836. 

2 Sept. 1928. 

3 For the D. A. R., the writer had the honor of presenting’ this 
tablet to President M. M. Parks of the G. N. and I. C. 

4 Inscription was written by Judge Walter Charlton, Savannah,, 
Ga. 

5 Appointed by President Andrew Johnson. 

P. 329, College Life in the Old South, E. Merton Coulter, 1928. 

6 P. 379, History of the State of Georgia , I. W. Avery, 1881. 

7 The Government House was unfinished and rent for the Gov¬ 
ernor’s quarters was paid in 1838 and 1839. 

8 Pp. 334-335, Sketches, of Some of the First Settlers of Upper 
Georgia of the Cherokees and the Author, article by James 
Camak. 

(Hereafter referred to as Gilmer’s Georgians.) 

9 P. 317, Idem, (reprint), 1826. 

10 The Georgia Courier, Augusta, Nov. 17, 1831. 

Pp. 144-149, Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Adiel Sherwood. 
3rd ed., 1837. Article by Rev. Jesse Mercer. 

They were Samuel A. Worcester and Elizur Butler. 

11 Copy of oath, printed on original slip of paper, 4x6 in., in His¬ 
torical Museum, G. S. C. W. 

P. 43, Vol. I, Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, 
Wilson Lumpkin, 1907. 

12 P. 440, Gilmer’s Georgian’s, (reprint), 1926. 

P. 80, Georgia and State Rights, Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, 1902. 
Neiv York Observer, Sept. 12, 1829, Correspondence signed Wil¬ 
liam Penn (Jeremiah Evarts), copied in no less than 27 news¬ 
papers at the North. List named. 

13 P. 44, Gilmer’s Georgians, (reprint), 1826. 

14 The Journal, Milledgeville, Nov. 12, 1839. 

15 The Recorder, Milledgeville, Nov. 19, 1839. 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


Note: 


Note: 


Note: 


16 The Atlanta Journal, Aug. 4, 1929, article by Mrs. Render Ter¬ 
rell. 

17 Mrs. Emily Carter Zalinski, of Atlanta, great niece of the Gov¬ 
ernor, in 1937, sent to the writer for the Mansion a copy of a sil¬ 
houette of the Governor, made while he dwelt in the Mansion. 
Mrs. Louis Morris, of Atlanta, wife of the great grandson of 
Governor McDonald, has presented for the Mansion a picture of 
the Governor, made from a steel engraving which was photo¬ 
graphed by T. Dony. The steel engraving was made from a 
daguerreotype by Brady. 

18 Men of Mark in Georgia, article “Charles J. McDonald”, by Judge 
Spencer Atkinson. 

19 Memorial Address, Hon. George N. Lester in House of Rep., 1860, 
pub. in The Federal Union, Milledgeville. 

20 The Journal, Milledgeville, Nov. 12, 1839. 

21 Idem. 

Huson’s Hotel was situated next door N. of Merchants and 
Farmers Bank. 

22 P. 146, Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians, compiled by 
Sarah Harriett Butts, 1902. 

23 Letter owned by writer, postmarked Milledgeville, Ga., May 7, 
sealed with wax wafer, and addressed to Mrs. W. F. Weems, 
Washington, Ga. 

24 Fort and Fannin Families, Fannie Fort (Mrs. Julius L. Brown). 

25 The Federal Union, Milledgeville, reported soon after the Ex- 
Governor’s death. 

26 P. 10, The Life and Times of William H. Crawford, J. E. D. 
Shipp, 1909. 

27 Pp. 245-246, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George 
White, 1854. 

28 P. 250, Idem. 

P. 293, Georgia Historical Quarterly, Sept. 1937. 

29 P. 150, History of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881 

P. 107, Vol. I, Bicentennial Memoirs and Memories, Lucian 
Lamar Knight, 1931. 

30 Pp. 337-338, Vol. II, Bench and Bar of Georgia, Stephen F. 
Miller, 1858. 

31 P. 339, Vol. II, Idem. 

32 P. 341, Idem. , 

33 P. 341, Vol. II, Idem, article by James Y. Gardner. 


4 74 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


34 

35 

Note: 36 
37 

Note: 38 
Note: 39 
Note: 40 

42 

Note: 43 

44 

Note: 

45 

Note: 46 

47 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 


P. 24, A History of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881. 

A Compilation of Legal Forms in Use in the State of Georgia, 
The Rules of Practice and State Papers, Howell Cobb, 1841. 

P. 253, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George White, 
1854. 

Jan. 19, 1861. 

P. 181, History of the State of Georgia, 1850-1881, I. W. Avery, 
1881. 

Judge H. C. Erwin, of Athens, Ga., a grandson, possesses a pic¬ 
ture of Howell Cobb, administering the oath. 

Judge Erwin possesses manuscript copies of the speeches of 
Howell Cobb and of Benj. H. Hill made at this meeting. 

Miss Mary Erwin, Athens, Ga. 

41 P. 22, Remarks of an Old Georgia Lawyer, Garnett Andrews, 
1870. 

P. 18, Memorial Volume\ of the Hon. Howell Cobb of Georgia, 
Samuel Boykin, 1870. 

Buried in city cemetery, Milledgeville. 

Pp. 186-187, Mirabeau B. Lamar, Philip Graham, 1938. 

He became the second President of the Republic of Texas. 

P. 254, Vol. II, Georgia’s Landmarks, Memorials and Legends, 
Lucian Knight, 1913. 

Mrs. William Berry of North Carolina. 

P. 341, University Life in the Old South, E. Merton Coulter, 
1928. 

P. 84, Marching With Sherman, Henry Hitchcock, Yale Univ. 
Press, 1927. 

P. 185, Memoirs General W. T. Sherman, by himself, 1875. 

Pp. 58-59, The Story' of the Great March, Brevet Maj. George 
Ward Nichols, 1865. 

P. 408, Publication No. 35 of the Illinois Historical Society, 1928. 

Memorial Volume of the Hon. Howell Cobb of Georgia, Samuel 
Boykin, 1870. 

P. 256, Historical Collections of Georgia, Rev. George White, 
1854. 

P. 144, Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia, States’ Rights Unionist, 
Percy Scott Flippin, 1931. 

The Planter, Eatonton, J. A. Turner, 1860. 

4 75 }l* 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


53 


Note: 

54 


55 

Note: 

56 


57 


58 


59 


60 


61 

Note: 

62 

Note: 

63 

Note: 

64 


65 

Note: 

66 


67 

Note: 

68 

Note: 

69 

Note: 

70 

Note: 

71 

Note: 

72 


Pp. 54-55, Johnson's Autobiography, as pub. by Percy Scott. 
Flippin in Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia, States' Rights Union¬ 
ist, 1931. 

Adjoining the Milledgeville Hotel on Greene Street. 

The Federal Union, Milledgeville, Nov. 6, 1855. 

Corner Wayne and Greene Streets, where Jordan’s garage now 
stands. 

The Federal Union, Milledgeville, Feb. 5, 1856. (Correspondent 
to the Savannah Georgia). 

P. 179, Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia, States' Rights Unionist, 
Percy Scott Flippin, 1931. 

P. 177, Idem. 

P. 191, Idem. 

P. 192, Idem. (Separate manuscript among papers of Johnson’s 
autobiography). 

Told to the writer by Mrs. John S. Spalding, daughter of Mary 
Brown (Mrs. E. L. Conolly). 

Told to writer by Mrs. John S. Spalding and Miss Sallie Brown 
of Atlanta, Ga. 

Citizens opposed to secession refused to illuminate their homes. 
Among them were Mrs. Fort on Greene Street and Mr. R. W. 
Orme on Liberty Street. P. 30, Sidney Lanier at Oglethorpe Uni¬ 
versity, Leola Selman Beeson. 

The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, Eliza Frances An¬ 
drews, 1864-1865. 

The Union Recorder, Aug. 14, 1930, article “Women’s Work in 
the Sixties”. 

This paper is copied from an old Milledgeville scrap-book. 

P. 192, History of the State of Georgia, 1850 to 1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881. 

President of the Georgia Savings and Trust Co., Atlanta, Ga. 
Letter dated Nov. 19, 1928, and written to writer of this article. 

This is when his second arrest was made. 

P. 337, History of the State of Georgia, 1850 to 1881, 1. W. Avery, 
1881. 

The original copy of President Andrew Johnson’s parole is today 
in the possession of Mr. Brown. 

The Elizabeth Grisham Brown room in the Marvin Parks Memo¬ 
rial Hospital of G. S. C. W. 

Story told to writer by Mrs. Hal Hentz, of Atlanta, eldest daugh¬ 
ter of Mrs. E. L. Conolly, Oct. 25, 1929. 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


73 P. 337, The History of the State of Georgia, 1850 to 1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881. 

74 The Federal Union, 1868. 

75 P. 137, The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians, com¬ 
piled by Sarah Harriett Butts, 1902. 

Note: 76 H© was a page in the Senate when the Governor received the 
official message from Washington that Alexander Stephens was 
elected member of Congress. Mr. McComb carried the message 
to Stephens. 

77 P. 188, Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, By Himself, 1875. 

78 The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, Eliza Frances An¬ 
drews, 1864-1865. 

79 P. 408, Publication No. 35, Illinois Historical Society, Maj. 
James Austen Conolly’s Letters to his wife, 1928. 

Note: 80 The mother of Mr. L. C. Hall and Dr. T. M. Hall, prominent 
Milledgeville citizens. 

81 Read to visitors on U. D. C. Pilgrimage to Historic Homes, May, 
19, 1937. 

82 P. 66, The D. A. R. Proceedings, 1935, Mrs. J. L. Beeson, State 
Historian. 

83 P. 13, The Journal of the House of Representatives, 1865. 

84 P. 14, Idem. 

85 P. 347, History of the State of Georgia, 1850-1881, I. W. Avery, 
1881. 

86 P. 348, Idem. 

87 Pp. 60-61, Journal of the House of Representatives, 1865. 

88 P. 353, The History of the State of Georgia, 1850-1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881. 

Note: 89 Later, Gen. Pope withdrew the University’s Annuity, and or¬ 
dered its doors closed. 

P. 341, College Life in the Old South, E. Merton Coulter, 1928. 

90 The Daily Journal and Messenger, Macon, Jan. 16, 1865, (In¬ 
augural Address). 

91 P. 370, The History of the State of Georgia, 1850-1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881. 

92 P. 312, Senator Benjamin H. Hill of Georgia, Benjamin H. Hill, 
Jr., 1893. 

93 The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, Eliza Frances An¬ 
drews, 1864-1865. 


4 77 


THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 


94 

95 

96 

97 

98 

99 
100 


101 

Note: 102 

Note: 103 

104 

Note: 

105 

106 

107 

108 

Note: 109 
Note: 110 

Note: 111 

112 

113 

Note: 114 


Note: 115 


P. 372, The History of the State of Georgia, 1850-1881, I. W. 
Avery, 1881. 

Dec. 9, 1867. 

The Federal Union, Milledgeville, Jan. 7, 1868. 

Idem, Jan. 21, 1868. 

Idem. 

P. 30, Georgia, A Guide to its Cities, Towns, Scenery and Re¬ 
sources, J. T. Derry, 1878. 

The Federal Union, Milledgeville, Jan. 21, 1869. 

The Atlanta Journal, Aug. 8, 1909, “How Georgia’s Seal was 
Saved by a Brave Woman”, article by Dr. R. J. Massey. 

The Atlanta Constitution, July 2, 1889, article by Wallace Put¬ 
nam Reed, containing Mrs. Barnett’s statement about The Great 
Seal. 

P. 403, History of the State of Georgia, 1850-1881, I. W. Avery, 
1881. 

The eldest son of the editor, who lived in Savannah, but was 
often in Milledgeville. 

In 1931, Mrs. R. W. Johnston, of Macon, Ga. 

The Federal Union, Milledgeville, Jan. 28, 1868. 

(Published in pamphlet form also). 

The Southern Recorder, Milledgeville, Aug. 11, 1868. 

The Federal Union, Nov. 9, 1869. 

Idem. 

History of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, I. W. Avery, 
1881. 

Mr. S. F. Hancock, who has died since then. 

Rena Roy, a colored nurse, daughter of Amanda, house-servant 
of the Blounts’, who lived across the street from the Mansion. 

Bill Holmes who had been carriage driver for Governor Brown 
also. 

The Federal Union, July 14, 1868. 

The Atlanta Journal, Dec. 29, 1932. 

At this date, Feb., 1938, Betty Mitchell of Chattahoochee Co., a 
great-great-great-granddaughter of Gov. Mitchell (1809-1813) 
is a student at G. S. C. W. Also, Miss Gertrude Earle, of Macon, 
great-great-granddaughter of Gov. Herschel V. Johnson, (1853- 
1857), is a student at this college. 

In 1934, Mrs. Bramblett, of Forsyth, Ga., was a visitor and 
after her return home, sent this poem to the writer. 

<{ 78 }> 


BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES 
THE COLLEGE PRESIDENTS 

Chapter III 


Note: 

Note: 
Note: 

Note: 

Note: 
Note: 


Note: 


Note: 

Note: 

Note: 

Note: 


1 In 1930, Mr. Wiley Alford, a former G. M. C. student, was a 
visitor at the Mansion, and he remembered the incident. He was 
a senior when a portion of the old Capitol burned, and with his 
class, received his diploma from the rostrum of what was then 
The Georgia Normal and Industrial College. 

2 Mrs. Mary Barkesdale Richardson, born in Baldwin County, 
and who has spent much of her life in Milledgeville. 

This partition was erected by Mr. Jesse Tunnell of Greene Co., 
who later moved to Milledgeville and died here. He was the 
father of Rev. George Tunnell a Milledgeville citizen. 

3 He was the Commencement speaker for the Georgia Military 
College. 

4 Mrs. Mary Lawrence Richardson. 

5 Mr. W. M. Miller, Dresden, Ohio. Hon. Joseph William O’Neal. 
P. 298, Vol. Ill, Ohio Legislative History, 1919-1920. 

P. 88, Marching with Sherman, Henry Hitchcock, Yale Univ. 
Press 1927. 

P. 190, Vol. II, Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, By Himself, 
1875. 

6 Mr. W. H. Williams (then Assistant Prof, of History at Har¬ 
vard Univ.), also his mother and sister. 

7 P. 342, Gilmer’s Georgians (reprint), 1926. 

8 Head of the Department of History, G. S. C. W. 

9 Author of a volume of poems, Love of Earth, 1937. 

10 Lord Marley, House of Lords, London, Eng. 

11 A member of the Faculty of G. S. C. W. since 1923. He has 
poems in several anthologies, and is the author of a volume of 
poems The Golden Trove, 1935. 


4 79 £ 


BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES 
THE BUILDING AND PLAN OF THE EXECUTIVE 
MANSION 


Note: 


Note: 


Note: 


Chapter IV 


1 P. 61, Index to Resolutions, Acts of General Assembly, 1837. 

2 P. 26, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia . 
1836. 

3 P. 31, Sec. 14, Acts of the General Assembly, 1837. 

4 P. 278, Georgia Laws, 1838. (Treas.’ Report in back). 

Agreed to in House 25, Dec., 1838. Agreed to in Senate 28, Dec. 
1838. 

5 P. 25, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia . 

1838. 

P. 25, Georgia Laws, 1838. 

6 Pp. 18-19, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, 

1839. 

7 P. 19, Sec. 19, Appropriations in Acts of the General Assembly 
of the State of Georgia, 1839. 

Acts of General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Feb. 18, 
$600.00. Feb. 26, $1400.00. 

8 Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, 1837. 
“No. 356, paid from the Contingent Fund.” 

9 P. 16, Supplement, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of 
Georgia, 1837. 

10 Treasurer’s Report, appended to Acts of the General Assembly 
of the State of Georgia, 1837. 

11 P. 15, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, 

1838. (Appendix). 

“Receipts 1837-1838 ”, No. 235, book filed at Dept, of Archives 
and History, Atlanta, Ga. 

12 P. 278, Georgia Laws, 1838, (Resolutions). 

13 P. 13, Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, 

1839. (Appendix). 

“Jan. 19, No. 306, $100.00.” 

4 80 }> 


THE OLD GOVERNORS’ MANSION 


14 P. 13, Acts of General Assembly of the State of Georgia, (Ap¬ 
pendix) . 

“Apr. 16, $225.00.” 

15 P. 19, A Treasure Album of Milledgeville and Baldwin County, 
Georgia, Nelle Womack Hines, 1936. 

16 The Milledgeville Times, Feb. 11, 1935, article “The Old Execu¬ 
tive Mansion” by Mrs. J. L. Beeson. 

17 The Milledgeville Times, Nov. 11, 1937, Bernice Brown Mc- 
Cullar, columnist. 


4 81 }> 


























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